Parthian music
The Parthian Empire, a major state of ancient Iran, lasted from 247 BCE to 224 CE, in which music played a prominent role.
[3] Later surviving instruments include bull lyres from c. 2450, small Oxus trumpets from c. 2200–1750,[4] and much later, lutes from c. 1300 BCE, which seem to have been popular with the upper class.
[5] Rock reliefs of Kul-e Farah from 1st-century BCE, include sophisticated Persian court ensembles, in which the arched harp is central.
[7][8] Some speculation and anecdotal evidence suggests the presence of female choirs,[7] as well as the emergence of the gōsān poet-musician minstrel tradition, which would be central in Parthian music.
[9] The Parthian Empire was a major political and cultural power of ancient Iran, existing from c. 247 BCE to 224 CE.
In particular, the East Syrian liturgy was practiced above the Tigris river, having made its way there through Edessa, Roman Syria (modern-day Urfa, Turkey).
[16] Visual depictions indicate that instruments such as the aulos, cithara and the syrinx (pan flute) was used in theater, sacrifices, Dionysian dances and other rituals.
[23] These large drums were used in warfare, with Plutarch noting that the Parthians "had rightly judged that, of all the senses, hearing is the one most apt to confound the soul, soonest rouses its emotions and most effectively unseats the judgement".
[16][24] The musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen notes that although the instrument is often rendered in English as tambourine, it more closely resembles a snare drum.
[26] Based on textual and artistic representations, the gōsān (also 'gusan'; Persian: گوسان) minstrel tradition was seemingly prominent in Parthian society,[19] and had probably originated in the earlier Achaemenid period.
[31] The gōsān minstrel tradition continued in the Sasanian empire, where Persian music reached a golden age of patronage and prosperity.
[32] It is likely that Parthian songs remained sung long after the Empire's fall, particularly in the north-eastern parts of modern-day Iran.
