這裏有一首古希臘的音樂作品《塞基洛斯的墓誌銘》(Song of Seikilos),它是1883年在土耳其發現的,希臘文的歌詞和用希臘字母譜標記的旋律被刻在一塊墓碑上(右圖)。據考證,這是公元一世紀前後的作品。在下面翻譯出來的現代樂譜中,它的音域在e-e′之間(即一個八度範圍內),升高f音和c音,因此這首作品用的是弗里幾亞調式(古希臘音樂調式的一種)。其中的a音最突出(這是希臘音階的大完整體系中的中心音),它先後出現了8次,4個樂句中有3句都由它開始。其次是e音和g音也比較突出。此外,原譜上還有節奏標記,在一個字母上方劃一橫線是2拍,橫線右方上折是3拍。每個樂句都由12拍構成,旋律聽上去既不太激動也不太悲傷。
The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone, near Aidin, Turkey (not far from Ephesus). The find has been dated variously from around 200 BC to around AD 100.
Also on the tombstone is an indication that states:
I am a tombstone, an icon. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.
While older music with notation exists (for example the Delphic Hymns), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition.
The following is a transliteration of the words which are sung to the melody, and an English translation: