Achaemenid music

[4] Later surviving instruments include bull lyres from c. 2450, small Oxus trumpets from c. 2200–1750,[5] and much later, lutes from c. 1300 BCE, which seem to have been popular with the upper class.

[6] Rock reliefs of Kul-e Farah from 1st-century BCE, include sophisticated Persian court ensembles, in which the arched harp is central.

[9][10] The ethnomusicologist Hormoz Farhat describes the dire situation: "the Achaemenian dynasty, with all its grandeur and glory, has left us nothing to reveal the nature of its musical culture".

[10] [11][12] In his Histories, Herodotus noted that Achaemenid priests did not use aulos music in their ceremonies,[13] while Xenophon reflected on his visit to Persia in the Cyropaedia, mentioning the presence of many female singers at court.

[14] The influence of Persian musical culture spread as far as Ancient China; the tuning peg from a 2nd Century BCE guqin-Zither is adorned with Achaemenid imagery.