Hittite music

The lyre (Hittite: zinar; Summerogram: ^GIŠ.dINANNA 'Ishtar-Instrument' after the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar) is the best attested musical instrument. The textual and archaeological evidence distinguishes between small and large lyres. The two kinds of lyre could be played one after the other, but probably never at the same time. Lyres were played by musicians and cult-singers – in texts, the only named lyre players are women.

The large standing lyre (Hittite: ḫunzinar; Sumerogramm: ^GIŠ.dINANNA.GAL 'large Ishtar instrument') was about two metres high and is shown in art as being played by two men simultaneously.[5] The number of strings is not certain. They often appear in cult texts, usually accompanied by singing or played along with a drum or other instruments. It is possible that the sound box was also used as a percussion instrument.

The small lyre (Hittite: ippizinar; Sumerogramm: ^GIŠ.dINANNA.TUR 'small Ishtar-instrument) had around ten strings and was played during drinking ceremonies by cult-singers, usually on its own, without any accompaniment. It was seldom held or played by a man.

Like other cult and temple equipment, lyres could be worshipped as divine. Sacred lyres were anointed and given offerings of drink and food. Since some texts refer to the "sweet news of the lyre", it is possible that the lyre was considered to be an intermediary between the offerers of a sacrifice and the deity receiving the offering.

The oldest depictions of lyres in Anatolia and North Syria come from the first half of the third millennium BC (Oylum Höyük, Carchemesh, Urkesh). There are images from the second millennium BC from Kültepe, Tarsus, and Mardin.[6] All of these early depictions come from cylinder seals, whose small size means that few details can be made out beyond their five or six strings.

Small lyre on the İnandiık vase

Lyres on the Boston Fist

The lyres on the İnandık vase are asymmetrical. They have a square sound box and two arms shaped like a swan's neck which terminate in the heads of an unidentifiable animal. The cross-bar is attached to the arms and itself terminates in animal heads at both ends. The seven strings were fastened to the sound box with a tailpiece. It is not clear how the strings were tuned. The Boston Fist, a Hittite drinking vessel in the shape of a fist, with a depiction of an offering scene for the weather god has two asymmetrical box lyres, which are not decorated.

Bird and animal head decoration are also found on lyres from the Aegean, like the lyre-players in the Mycenaean palace at Pylos and in Ancient Egypt, where the lyre first appeared around 2000 BC.[7] In Mesopotamia, on the other hand, the sound boxes of lyres were often depicted as reclining bulls or with the protome of a bull.[8]

In Late Hittite reliefs, only hand lyres are depicted, which take various forms and are different from the Old Hittite lyres. At Karatepe there is a depiction of a lyre which bears a striking resemblance to the ancient Greek phorminx.[9]

Lute player from Alaca Höyük

The long-necked lute (Sumerogram: ^GIŠTIBULA – the traditional Hittological transcription of the Akkadian tigidlû[10]) is also well-attested and could be played alone or accompanied by singing or dancing. In Hittite rituals, the lute played an important role along with the lyre, which was very much unlike the situation in Mesopotamia and Egypt, where the lute only appeared at the beginning of the 18th dynasty.[11]

The meaning of the Akkadian word tigidlû used to be unknown, but it was revealed by a word list from Emar that there was a three-stringed tigidlû instrument, which suggests a lute, and the reference to a "traveling tigidlû" in this list fits well with a lute.[12]

Based on artistic depictions, the Hittites used lutes with relatively small sound boxes and long fingerboards, which resemble the Pandura later used by the Greeks and Romans. Lutes were also known in Mesopotamia and Egypt. There, a pumpkin or other gourd was covered with a resonance board, with a long rod which served as the fingerboard. This fingerboard might be fretted and have two or three strings.

The earliest depiction of a long-necked lute in Anatolia is on a cup from Samsat (Layer XIII, 17th century BC), which shows a man with a particularly broad triangular torso, holding a long-necked lute with a round soundbox. No details can be discerned.[13]

In Hittite depictions, the lutist hold the relatively small soundbox in the curve of their right elbow. The strings were strummed with the right hand or with a plectrum that was tied to the instrument with a string. The fretted fingerboard was held up with the left hand. The number of strings is not absolutely clear, but may have been either two or three.

The lutes in artistic depictions are built in a number of different ways. The clearly recognisable lutes on the İnandık vase have an oval soundbox with six sound holes. The lute on the Sphinx Gate at Alaca Höyük on the other hand has an octagonal soundbox with ten small sound holes, which is often referred to in general works as the earliest image of a guitar. While the strings with which the strings were tied to the head of the fingerboard were often left hanging loose in the Bronze Age, in Late Hittite times, they were tied to long cords which hung down and were tied to a knot underneath, as was also the case in contemporary Mesopotamian lutes.

The harp has not been identified in literary sources. Artistic depictions which might depict a harp, are very rare and only survive in fragmentary form. This starkly contrasts with the situation in Mesopotamia, where harps were the most important instrument, especially in ritual.[14]

The horn (Hittite šawetra, Luwian šawatar) was shaped like a bull's horn, according to a Late Hittite relief from Carchemesh (9th century BC). The same word was also used for a drinking horn, but never for the horn of an actual animal. It was particularly used in Luwian rituals and could be played by a bugler or a drummer. In the cult of Ištanuwa, the same horn was used as a libation vessel and as a musical instrument. Due to its limited tonal range, it was used mainly to give signals rather than play melodies.

Woodwind instruments (Sumerogram: GI.GÍD "long tube") are also mentioned in Hittite texts. Since there are no Bronze Age depictions of woodwinds, it is not clear whether this instrument was a reed instrument or a flute. Monika Schuol considers a 'double oboe' most likely for musicological reasons.[15] The woodwind instrument was particularly associated with thecult of the mountain god Ḫulla, which was part of the originally Hattian cult of the town of Arinna. The woodwind could be accompanied by singing and the player might double as a singer.

In Late Hittite reliefs, many musicians are depicted with a double wind instrument which looks a bit like a Greek aulos. A striking example is the musician at Karatepe, who wears a mouth band (8th century BC).[16] A poorly preserved relief from Gaziantep (8th century BC) appears to depict a syrinx player.[17]

Group of musicians from Karatepe (9th century BC): two men playing the frame drum and two lyre-players

Drums (Hittite arkammi-; Sumerogram: ^GIŠBALAG.DI) were often used at the beginnings of musical pieces and to accompany dancing, where different kinds of drum were apparently not distinguished. They were played by both male and female musicians, who would also sing or blow the horn as required.

A Late Hittite relief from Carchemesh (9th century BC) shows a drum with a diameter of about a meter, carried and played by two men with shoulder-straps, while a third man whose role is not clear stands behind the drum. Reliefs from Zincirli (8th century BC) show men holding frame drums in their left hands and beating them with their right hands.[18]

Cymbals are first attested archaeologically in the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) at Alaca Höyük, Horoztepe and other locations.[19] Cymbals have also been found at karum-period Kültepe (18th century BC). A pair of cymbals with a diameter of 8.5 cm was found in the wreckage of the Uluburun shipwreck (14th century BC).[20]

In artistic depictions, cymbals are often hard to distinguish from frame drums. A Hittite offering vessel in the shape of a fist (the 'Boston fist') shows an offering ceremony for the Weather god, in which a musician plays a pair of cymbals which are tied together with a string. Generally cymbals are depicted being played by women, generally in pairs, and often accompanied by acrobats or other musicians.

The ^GIŠḫuḫupal instrument could be beaten and struck, and also served as a libation vessel in offering rituals, which makes an identification difficult, but it may have been a cymbal.[21] The ḫuḫupal could be played alongside the lyre. In the city of Ištanuwa, the Luwian dancing god Tarwaliya was honoured with the ḫuḫupal. An account of a ritual from this city includes the use of the ḫuḫupal for libations of wine.

The ^URUDUgalgalturi instrument was made from metal, wood, or clay and was played as part of a pair, so it was probably also a cymbal.[22][23]

ḫuḫupal and galgalturi instruments were often played along with arkammi drums. These three instruments were closely associated with the goddess Šauška. In the Hurrian myth of Ḫedammu, Šauška and her servants Ninatta and Kulitta bewitch the sea-dragon Ḫedammu by playing the arkammi, ḫuḫupal, and galgaturi instruments. The Night Goddess of Samuha, a form of Šauška, received a pair of bronze cymbals, a pair of boxwood or ivory ḫuḫupal instruments, and a drum, as an offering.

Pre-Hittite sistrum from Horoztepe, 3rd millennium BC.

Sistrums are archaeologically attested from the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC). They consist of a U or V-shaped frame with three crossbars, which each hold two metal plates. There are two well-preserved sistrums from Horoztepe, which are decorated with birds, cattle, deer, and other animals.[24]

A late Hittite relief from Karkemesh shows a young man holding a kind of rattle or claves in his hand.

There was also an instrument called the ^GIŠmukar, which may have been a sistrum, rattle, or some other percussion instrument.[23][25] A textual reference seems to indicate that it consisted of several rods. The mukar was alsoemployed in protective and apotropaic magic. In the Hattian cult of Nerik, the Weather god of Nerik was invoked using a mukar. The instrument was also used by the "man of the Weather god of Zippalanda".[26]

A unique feature of Hittite music was the men of the Hattian city of Anunuwa. These men participated in special events, including the KI.LAM festival in Hattusa, at which they beat their spears (Hitt. marit) rhythmically against one another and sang songs in the Hittite language. At another event, the men of Anunuwa beat their lances rhythmically in time to a lyre played by the 'Man of the Protective god'.[27]

The meaning of the Hittite verb palwai- and the personal description palwatalla is uncertain. Either "clapper" or "reciter / psalmist" are possible based on the general context, and a combination of clapping and recitation is also conceivable.[28][29][30] Since other words for 'speaking', 'calling' and 'reciting' are known in Hittite, it has also been proposed that the word means 'rhythmic speech', which might be a hint at a kind of ritual Sprechgesang.