Based on its structure and language, the artifact is generally understood to have been an epitaph (a tombstone inscription) created by a man named Seikilos and possibly dedicated to a woman named …

Ὅσον ζῇς, φαίνου (while you live shines), these are the first words of the oldest Greek song and also, the oldest preserved complete: The Epitaph of Seikilos...

Jun 11, 2026 · Therefore, it is generally considered that the oldest complete song preserved, with its text and musical notation, is the Epitaph of Seikilos, dated to the 1st century A.D., although some authors …

Nov 19, 2023 · In the Song of Seikilos, we find a precious relic of ancient Greek culture that defies traditional categorization. Beyond being a mere epitaph, it appears to be a proud display of musical …

This piece was an epitaph written on a stele of the wife of Seikilos’s gravestone. This is the earliest fully surviving written piece of ancient Grecian music. The inscription of the piece is “I am a tombstone, an …

Jul 30, 2025 · The oldest song to have survived in its entirety is an Ancient Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.”

It is currently located in the National Museum of Denmark, in Copenhagen. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Comp. 63 f.

The "Seikilos Epitaph" is the oldest known complete song, found with lyrics and music notation carved on a tombstone in what is now Turkey. The tombstone and the significance of its inscription were first …

Dec 7, 2021 · This is the Song of Seikilos, a four-verse poem which survives inscribed in six rows of elegant Greek uppercase letters on a cylindrical marble column now in the National Museum of …

Jul 22, 2025 · Dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD, it was discovered in 1883 in the ancient city of Tralles (modern Aydın, Turkey) on a marble pillar known as the Seikilos stele. The inscription …