The Seikilos Epitaph

The Seikilos epitaph is a haunting and beautiful piece music that dates from the second century CE. It is the oldest surviving complete musical composition that includes musical notation (source).

It's commonly assumed to be a lament to the composer's dead wife, although there's a less romantic hypothesis, namely that the stone on which the musical score and lyrics are carved might instead have been erected by the composer as a monument to his own talent.

Regardless of the reasons it was written, the song gives us an entrancing insight to the sensory world of the Greco-Roman culture of Tralles in the second century CE.

There are many versions of the song available online. To me they're all haunting and moving, but I've selected the following two for this post.

The first version recreates the simple original, without (as far as I can tell) any modern embellishments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm1aPxOORrs

The next, performed live by the "YK Band", also starts with the original but then builds to a more elaborate, very beautiful contemporary version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNLEFz9wwz8

Phew. Does anyone have a tissue? I seem to have something in my eye...

A spot of Google Street View tourism makes clear that the modern town of Aydin gives little sense of the environment that would have existed when the song was composed. Although the mountains in this panoramic photograph must be virtually unchanged since Seikilos himself gazed upon them.