Hittite music

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Dancers and musicians on a vase from Hüseyindede (approx. 16th / 15th century BC). On the far left a dancer, then a man and a woman with cymbals, a lute player and on the far right two dancers with cymbals in their hands.

As Hittite music is music of the Hittite Empire in the 17th-12th Century BC And the late Hittite successor states of the 12th – 7th centuries Century BC Chr. Designated.

Both archaeological finds and written sources are available as evidence of Hittite music. Hittite texts primarily describe the use of music in a religious context. Basic musical elements were instrumental music and singing . There were also shouts and noises, for example from clapping . Because of the tradition, less is known about Hittite music than about the simultaneous music of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt .

Cultural and temporal differences

The inhabitants of the Hittite Empire did not form an ethnic unit. In the north to the Black Sea lived the Hattier , who had a very great influence on the Hittite culture. Their language, Hattic , was used very often in the Hittite cult. The Luwians , who were closely related to the Hittites, lived in southern Anatolia, and for whom, it seems, the musical horn played a special role in cult. Several beginnings of songs in the Luwian language were handed down in Hittite texts. Relatively late was the influence of settled east of the Hittites, Hurrians . They had a great influence on the Hittite religion in the late period of the Hittite Empire . Hurrian hymns with the oldest melody notations come from Ugarit .

Hittite music history can be divided into three periods. The oldest evidence from Anatolia are archaeological finds of sound instruments that are classified as pre-Hittite. The music of the Hittite Empire is best preserved. After the fall of the Hittite Empire around 1180 BC. Several late Hittite principalities were formed in southeastern Anatolia and Syria. The texts of this period in Luwian language do not give any information about the music, but many relief images show not only various everyday scenes but also detailed depictions of musicians. With the final subjugation of these small states by the Assyrians in the 7th century BC The evidence of Hittite culture and thus also of Hittite music disappeared.

Lore

Vase from İnandık , (17th / 16th century BC), with various cult and music scenes. In the lower frieze a large lyre played by two men is depicted, to the right of it a musician with a small lyre. Lutenists, women with cymbals and somersault dancers are also painted.

The known written evidence regarding Hittite music comes exclusively from the Bronze Age archives of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša . These texts , written in the Hittite language and in cuneiform , mainly deal with music in a religious context. The texts provide detailed information about when a ritual is sung, recited or danced, which musical instruments are used and who plays them, but also when no music may be played. In contrast to written documents from Mesopotamia and Egypt at the same time, no music-theoretical texts are known.

The few archaeological evidence are mostly pictorial representations on cult vessels or stone reliefs. Musical instruments or their parts were seldom discovered compared to comparable finds from Mesopotamia or Egypt. Somewhat well-preserved sound instruments such as sound rattles , counter- striking plates ( stem cymbals ) or sistren come from the pre-Hittite period . Cult vases from the early Hittite period, including from İnandık , Bitik and the relief vases from Hüseyindede , show depictions of people making music, sometimes together with acrobats and acts of sacrifice.

Several stone reliefs with ensembles of musicians, sometimes together with jugglers, have survived from the late Hittite period, for example from Karkemiš , Maraş , Zincirli (Sam'al) and Karatepe . They show Mesopotamian influences, with Greek elements also being noticed in Karatepe. There is an orthostat from the 8th century BC. BC is the oldest representation. A Aulisten with mouth binding ( ancient Greek φορβειά phorbeiá preserved).

Musical instruments

The Hittite texts name several musical instruments, but it is not possible to pinpoint all of them. One problem in determining the Hittite names for musical instruments is that no bilinguals or word lists relating to the music are known, quite apart from the fact that many Akkadian names for musical instruments cannot always be correctly determined to this day. Names of the Hittite musical instruments can be passed down in the Hittite, Luwian or Hittite language, others are given in Sumerograms , so that the actual Hittite name is not known.

The way of playing can be used to determine the instruments, namely whether an instrument is blown (Heth. Paripariya- ), plucked (Heth. Ḫazzikk- , ḫazzišk- ) or struck (Heth. Walḫ- ), the last two terms for noise, Percussion and string instruments were used, the first for wind instruments. Additional information about the construction of the instrument that allows a more precise determination is also rare. Another method of determining the musical instruments mentioned can be the relative frequency of mentions in the texts and in the illustrations.

lyre

Small lyre on the vase by İnandiık

The lyre (Heth. Zinar ; Sumerogram: GIŠ.d INANNA "Ištar instrument", after the Mesopotamian goddess Ištar ) is the best attested musical instrument. Based on written and archaeological evidence, there were large and small lyres. Both types of lyre could be played alternately, but apparently never together. Lyres were played by musicians or cult singers, and only one text mentions women who played the lyre.

The large stand lyre (hatt. Ḫunzinar ; Sumerogram: GIŠ.d INANNA.GAL "large Ištar instrument") was about two meters high and was played by two men at the same time using pictorial representations. The number of strings cannot be determined. It was often used in cult acts, sometimes it accompanied singing or it was played together with drums and other musical instruments. It is conceivable that the sound box standing on the floor was also used as a percussion instrument .

The little lyre (hatt. Ippizinar ; Sumerogram: GIŠ.d INANNA.TUR "small Ištar instrument") had about ten strings and was played by cult singers during drinking ceremonies, usually alone without any accompaniment. It was held and played sideways by a man.

Lyres could, like other cult and temple implements, be worshiped divinely. Holy lyres were anointed and given drink and food offerings. Since the "sweet message of the lyre" is mentioned in some texts, it is possible that the lyre was seen as a mediator between the sacrificial community and the sacrificed deities.

The oldest images of lyres in Anatolia and Northern Syria come from the first half of the third millennium BC ( Oylum Höyük , Karkemiš and Urkeš ). Later illustrations from the 2nd millennium BC BC come from Kültepe , Tarsus and Mardin . All of these early representations are on cylinder seals , which is why no details other than the five or six strings can be recognized due to the small size.

The lyres on the İnandık vase are built asymmetrically. They show an angular sound body, the two yoke arms are curved in the shape of a gooseneck and end in unidentifiable animal heads on which the transverse rod is attached, which in turn ends in bird heads on both sides. The strings, about seven in number, were attached to the sound box with a tailpiece . Nothing is known about the tuning device. A Hittite fist vessel ("Boston Fist") with a sacrificial scene for the weather god shows two asymmetrical box veils that are not decorated.

Bird and animal head decorations on lyres can also be found in the Aegean region , such as the lyre player in the Mycenaean palace of Pylos , as well as in ancient Egypt, where lyres were only found from 2000 BC. Came up. In Mesopotamia, on the other hand, the sound body of the lyres was often depicted as a lying bull or expanded with a bull head protome.

In late Hittite reliefs, only small hand-veils are depicted, but they have different shapes and which differ from the Old-Hittite lyres. In Karatepe , among other things , a lyre was depicted, which is remarkably reminiscent of an ancient Greek phorminx .

Lute

Lute player from Alaca Höyük

Long-necked lutes (sumerogram: GIS Tibula , the traditional, outdated transcription in Hittitologists, instead of Akkadian tigidlû ) are also well documented and could be played alone or with singing and dancing. In Hittite rituals, the lute played an important role alongside the lyre, in stark contrast to Mesopotamia and Egypt, where the lute did not appear until the beginning of the 18th dynasty.

In the past, the meaning of the Akkadian word tigidlû was controversial, now a list of words from Emar has shown that there were three-stringed tigidlû instruments, which suggests a lute, and the mention of a “wandering tigidlû ” in this list goes well with the lute.

Using pictorial representations, the Hittites used skewers with relatively small sound bodies and long fingerboards that resembled the later ancient pandura of the Greeks and Romans. Petty lutes were also known in Mesopotamia and Egypt. A pumpkin or other hollow body was covered with a soundboard through which a long stick, which served as a fingerboard , was speared. The fingerboard could be fretted and had two or three strings.

The earliest illustration of a long-necked lute in Anatolia is on a beaker from samsat (layer XIII, 17th century BC), which shows a man with a strikingly wide triangular upper body, who is holding a long-necked lute with a round sound body, details are however not recognizable.

In Hittite representations, the lutenists hold the relatively small sound body in the crook of the right arm. The strings are plucked with the right hand or struck with a pick attached to the instrument with a string. The fretted fingerboard is held up with the left. The number of strings cannot always be determined with certainty, it was either two or three.

The sounds shown are built differently. The instruments on the İnandık vase, which are clearly recognizable as spit-sounds, have an oval sound body with six sound holes. The lute at the Sphinx Gate by Alaca Höyük, on the other hand, had an eight-shaped sound body, which is why it is often referred to as the oldest picture of a guitar in lay literature , with ten small sound holes. While the cords with which the strings were attached to the head end of the fingerboard hung loosely in the Bronze Age, in the Late Hittite period they were twisted into long cords that hung down and were tied into a knot at the bottom, as was the case with the simultaneous Mesopotamian sounds of the Case was.

harp

The harp seems to be completely absent from written evidence. Pictorial representations that could depict a harp are very rare and have only survived in fragments. This is in clear contrast to Mesopotamia, where the harp was probably the most important musical instrument, especially in cult.

horn

The horn (Heth. Šawetra , luw. Šawatar ) had the shape of a cow's horn after a late Hittite relief from Karkemiš (9th century BC). The same word also referred to a drinking horn, but never an animal horn. It was used especially in Luwian rituals and could be blown by a horn player, but also by a drummer. In the cult of Ištanuwa, the same horn was used as a libation vessel and as a musical instrument. Because of the limited range it had more signal effect.

Woodwind instrument

In Hittite texts, woodwind instruments (Sumerogram: GI.GÍD "long pipe") are also mentioned. Since there are no bronze age depictions of woodwinds, it is not clear whether they are reed instruments or flutes . Monika Schuol considers the "double oboe" to be likely for reasons of music history. The wind instruments were played especially in the cult of the mountain deity Ḫulla , who originally belonged to the Hattic cult of the city of Arinna . The wind instrument could accompany singing and the players could also perform as singers.

In late Hittite reliefs, winds are depicted several times with a double wind instrument ( aulos ?). The wind instrument depicted in karatepe wearing a mouth bandage (8th century BC) is striking. A less well-preserved relief from Gaziantep (8th century BC) seems to depict a syrinx player ("pan flute").

drum

Music group from Karatepe (9th century BC): two frame drummers and two lyre players

Drums (Heth. Arkammi- ; Sumerogram: GIŠ BALAG.DI ) were often used and accompanied dances, apparently not distinguishing between different types of drums. They were beaten by drummers who also sang or blew the horn if necessary.

A late Hittite relief from Karkamis (9th century BC) shows a drum about one meter in diameter, which is carried and beaten by two men with shoulder straps, a third man stands behind the drum, but its function is not apparent. Reliefs from Zincirli (8th century BC) show men holding a frame drum with their left hand and beating it with the flat of their right hand.

Cymbals and cymbals

Basins are archaeologically documented from the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC), for example from Alaca Höyük , Horoztepe and other places. Basins were also found in the Karum period Kültepe (18th century BC). A pair of basins with a diameter of 8.5 cm was found among the finds from the Uluburun shipwreck (14th century BC).

Cymbals and cymbals can be recognized in pictorial representations , an exact determination is seldom possible, and a distinction to the frame drum is not always clearly recognizable. A Hittite sacrificial vessel in the shape of a fist ("Boston Fist") shows a sacrifice ceremony for the weather god, with a musician beating a pair of cymbals tied together with a ribbon. Otherwise, cymbals or cymbals are always played by women who usually appear in pairs and can accompany other musicians or acrobats.

The GIŠ ḫuḫupal instrument could be struck and crossed, and it also served as a libation vessel in sacrificial rituals , which makes it difficult to determine, possibly cymbals or cymbals. The ḫuḫupal instrument could be played along with the lyre. In the city of Ištanuwa, the Luwian dance deity Tarwaliya was honored with the ḫuḫupal instrument. A precisely described ritual from this city describes how sacrificial wine was poured from a ḫuḫupal instrument into the lower part, whereby not a drop of the sacrificial liquid was allowed to be spilled.

The URUDU galgalturi instrument was made of metal, wood or clay and was played in pairs, so it was possibly a type of cymbal or cymbal.

ḫuḫupal and galgalturi instruments were often played with the arkammi drum. These three instruments were closely related to the cult of the goddess Šauška . In the Hurrian myth of Ḫedammu, Šauška, together with her two servants Ninatta and Kulitta , beguiles the sea dragon Ḫedammu, where the arkammi , ḫuḫupal and galgalturi instruments were played. The “goddess of the night” from Šamuḫa , a form of Šauška, received a pair of bronze basins, a pair of ḫuḫupal instruments made of boxwood or ivory and a drum as a dedication .

Other sound instruments

Pre-Hittite Sistrum from Horoztepe, 3rd millennium BC Chr.

Sistren are archaeologically documented for the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC). They consist of a U- or V-shaped frame with three cross bars, each holding two metal plates. Two well-preserved sistras are decorated with birds, cattle, deer and other animals.

A late Hittite relief from Karkemiš shows a boy holding a kind of rattle or bat in his hand.

The GIŠ mukar instrument was called. It could thus have been a sistrum, a rattle or some other simple sound instrument. A passage in the text seems to indicate that it consisted of several sticks. The mukar instrument was also used in protective and defensive magic. In the hattic cult of Nerik , the weather god of Nerik was summoned with a mukar instrument. The “man of the weather god” from Zipplanda also used a mukar instrument.

Lances

The men from the Hittite city of Anunuwa were a specialty in Hittite music. These men appeared on special occasions, including at the KI.LAM festival in Ḫattuša, and beat their lances (Heth. Marit ) rhythmically together and sang songs in Hattic language. On another occasion, the men of Anunuwa beat their lances rhythmically to the lyre, which was played by the “man of the protective deity”.

Clap

The meaning of the Hittite verb palwai- and the personal name palwatalla derived from it is disputed . Both the interpretation as “clapping” / “clapping hands” and “reciting, psalmodying” / 'reciter, psalmist' are possible from the context, a combination of recitation and clapping is also conceivable. Since there are other words for “speak”, “call” and “recite” in Hittite, it was also suggested that the word be interpreted as “speaking rhythmically”, which could indicate a kind of ritual chant .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anne Draffkorn Kilmer: The Cult song with Music from Ancient Ugarit: Another interpretation. In: Revue d'Assyriologique. Volume 68, 1974, pp. 69-82, here p. 69.
  2. ↑ Pair of bronze cymbals. Central Anatolia, around 2000 BC Chr. Ø 11.5cm. Circular discs with a rod-shaped, conical, hollow handle, which has five broadly folded points at the upper end, which probably held a wooden knob (?). Illustration
  3. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 131
  4. ↑ de Martino: Music. With the Hittites , RdA, p. 484.
  5. ^ Rainer Michael Boehmer: Lyres played by two musicians. In: Heinrich Otten et al. (Ed.): Hittite and other Anatolian and Near Eastern Studies in Honor of Sedat Alp. Sedat Alp'a armağan. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara 1992, p. 67 f.
  6. ↑ Åke Norborg: Ancient Middle East Lyres (= Musikmuseets Skrifter. Volume 25). Musikmuseet, Stockholm 1995.
  7. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 57f., 104f; Hans Hickmann: Egypt (= music history in pictures . Series 2, volume 1). German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1961.
  8. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , pp. 104f.
  9. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 73
  10. ↑ Miguel Civil: The Tigidlu Bird and a musical instrument. In: Nouvelles assyriologiques brèves et utilitaires (NABU). 1987, p. 27.
  11. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 110
  12. ↑ Theo Krispijn: Musical ensembles in Ancient Mesapotamia. In: Richard Dumbrill, Irving Finkel (eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology Held at the British Museum, December 4, 5 and 6, 2008. ICONEA Publications, London 2010, pp. 135–150 ( PDF ) .
  13. ^ Nimet Özgüç: A Lute Player of Samsat. In: Heinrich Otten et al. (Ed.): Hittite and other Anatolian and Near Eastern studies in honor of Sedat Alp. Sedat Alp'a armağan. Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara 1992, pp. 419-423; Schuol: Hittite cult music , p. 110.
  14. ↑ de Martino: Music. With the Hittites , RdA, p. 485.
  15. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , pp. 69f.
  16. ↑ Johann Tischler: Hittite hand dictionary (= Innsbruck contributions to linguistics. Volume 102). 2nd, increased and improved edition. Institute for Languages ​​and Literatures of the University, Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-85124-712-1 .
  17. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 129-131
  18. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , pp. 73, 131
  19. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 76
  20. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , pp. 69f.
  21. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 71
  22. ↑ Werner Bachmann: Early Bronze Age musical instruments in Anatolia. In: Ellen Hickmann et al. (Ed.): Music archeology in early metal times. Lectures of the 1st symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archeology in the Michaelstein Monastery, May 18–24, 1998 (= Studies in Music Archeology . Volume 2). Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2000, pp. 145-177.
  23. ^ George F. Bass: A Bronze Age Shipwreck at Ulu Burun (Kaş): 1984 Campaign. In: American Journal of Archeology. Volume 90, 1986, pp. 269-296, here p. 288f, with illustration ( doi: 10.2307 / 505687 ).
  24. ↑ de Martino: Music. With the Hittites , RdA, p. 484.
  25. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 124–128
  26. ↑ a b de Martino: Music. With the Hittites , RdA, p. 486.
  27. ↑ Werner Bachmann: Early Bronze Age musical instruments in Anatolia. In: Ellen Hickmann et al. (Ed.): Music archeology in early metal times. Lectures of the 1st symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archeology in the Michaelstein Monastery, May 18–24, 1998 (= Studies in Music Archeology . Volume 2). Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2000, pp. 145-177.
  28. ↑ Schuol: Hittite Kultmusik , p. 120
  29. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 120–122
  30. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 122–124
  31. ↑ Schuol: Hittitische Kultmusik , pp. 172–174
  32. ↑ Johann Tischler: Hittite hand dictionary (= Innsbruck contributions to linguistics. Volume 102). 2nd, increased and improved edition. Institute for Languages ​​and Literatures of the University, Innsbruck 2008, ISBN 978-3-85124-712-1 .
  33. ↑ Norbert Oettinger: The stem formation of the Hittite verb (= Erlanger contributions to linguistics and art studies. Volume 64). Carl, Nürnberg 1979, pp. 369-372.

literature

  • Enrico Badalì: Strumenti musicali, musici e musica nella celebrazione delle fix ittite. Winter, Heidelberg 1991.
  • Stefano de Martino: Music, Dance and Processions in Hittite Anatolia. In: Jack M. Sasson (Ed.): Civilizations of Ancient Near East. Scribner, New York and Simon & Schuster and Prentice-Hall International, London 1995, pp. 2661-2669.
  • Stefano de Martino: Music. With the Hittites. In: Reallexikon der Assyriologie (RdA). Volume 8, 1997, pp. 483-488.
  • Monika Schuol : Hittite cult music. A study of instrumental and vocal music based on Hittite ritual texts and archaeological evidence (= Orient Archeology. Volume 14). Publishing house Marie Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2004, ISBN 3-89646-644-5 .

Web links

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