In 1892, among a number of papyri from Hermopolis, Egypt, in the collection of Archduke Rainer Ferdinand of Austria, a fragment was discovered and published[1][full citation needed] by the papyrologist Karl Wessely, containing a mutilated passage with musical notation.

Although Vienna Papyrus G 2315 dates to the third century BCE, the melody recorded on it may have been written much earlier.

[a] The full text of the musical fragment reads as follows: κατολοφύρομαι, κατολοφύρομαιματέρος αἷμα σᾶς, ὅ σ’ ἀναβακχεύει,ὁ μέγας ὄλβος οὐ μόνιμος ἐν βροτοῖς,ἀνὰ δὲ λαῖφος ὥς τις ἀκάτου θοᾶς τινάξας δαίμωνκατέκλυσεν δεινῶν πόνων ὡς πόντουλάβροις ὀλεθρίοισιν ἐν κύμασιν The arrangement of the fragmentary text differs from the traditional editions, in which the lines begin with ματέρος αἷμα (mother's blood) and κατολοφύρομαι appears after βροτοῖς (mortals).

The preserved vocal notes coincide with the ancient Dorian or Phrygian harmoniai transmitted by Aristides Quintilianus,[2] the Damonian harmoniai, in enharmonic genus, which was usual in tragedy of fifth century BC.

The fragment accords with observations by Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Aristophanes about the complexity of Euripidean style.