Hittite music
Understanding of Hittite music is based on archaeological finds and literary source material.
The north, up to the Black Sea, was inhabited by the Hatti, which had a large influence on Hittite culture.
The Luwians, who were closely related to the Hittites, lived in southern Anatolia, and it seems that the horn played a particularly important role in their religious rituals.
Musical instruments or their components are rarely recovered, in comparison with the situation in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Some relatively well-preserved noise-makers, such as rattles, clash cymbals[2] and sistrums have been recovered from pre-Hittite times.
From the late Hittite period there are several stone reliefs with musical groups, often accompanied by jugglers, such as those from Carchemish, Kahramanmaraş, Sam'al, and Karatepe.
An 8th century orthostat from that site is the oldest known depiction of an aulos player with a mouth strap [de] (Ancient Greek: φορβειά, romanized: phorbeiá).
The lyre (Hittite: zinar; Summerogram: GIŠ.dINANNA 'Ishtar-Instrument' after the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar) is the best attested musical instrument.
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.
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.
The oldest depictions of lyres in Anatolia and North Syria come from the first half of the third millennium BC (Oylum Höyük [de], Carchemesh, Urkesh).
[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.
They have a square sound box and two arms shaped like a swan's neck which terminate in the heads of an unidentifiable animal.
[9] 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.
[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.
[13] In Hittite depictions, the lutist hold the relatively small soundbox in the curve of their right elbow.
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.
[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.
In Late Hittite reliefs, many musicians are depicted with a double wind instrument which looks a bit like a Greek aulos.
[16] A poorly preserved relief from Gaziantep (8th century BC) appears to depict a syrinx player.
[18] Cymbals are first attested archaeologically in the early Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) at Alaca Höyük, Horoztepe and other locations.
A pair of cymbals with a diameter of 8.5 cm was found in the wreckage of the Uluburun shipwreck (14th century BC).
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.
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.
[24] A late Hittite relief from Karkemesh shows a young man holding a kind of rattle or claves in his hand.
These men participated in special events, including the KI.LAM festival [de] in Hattusa, at which they beat their spears (Hitt.
At another event, the men of Anunuwa beat their lances rhythmically in time to a lyre played by the 'Man of the Protective god'.
