Uploaded April 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
I'm starting the upload of a series of 7 pieces inspired by ancient Greek and Roman Epitaphs (texts on graves). I'll upload a new one every 2 weeks. Endlessly fascinating, the epitaphs come in all sizes and styles (as will become apparent as more uploads appear).
While most of the pieces I will upload are more experimental in nature, this first one is a very accessible (but modernized) version of the oldest known complete song (music + lyrics) in history, namely "Seikilos Epitaph" (written by Seikilos, and dedicated to Euterpe, possibly his wife). Many versions of this song exist by now, and this video adds one to the pile. It is composed "by hand" and recorded fragment by fragment as midi information into a digital audio workstation. After all recordings were done, all tracks are executed simultaneously using a Roland Integra-7.
The epitaph has been variously dated, but seems to be either from the 1st or the 2nd century AD. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone (a stele) from the Hellenistic town Tralles near present-day Aydın, Turkey, not far from Ephesus. It is a Hellenistic Ionic song in either the Phrygian octave species or Iastian tonos. While older music with notation exists (for example the Hurrian songs), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition.
Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἔστι[2] τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.
hóson zêis, phaínou
mēdèn hólōs sù lupoû
pròs olígon ésti tò zên
tò télos ho khrónos apaiteî.
While you live, shine
have no grief at all
life exists only for a short while
and Time demands his due.
I'm starting the upload of a series of 7 pieces inspired by ancient Greek and Roman Epitaphs (texts on graves). I'll upload a new one every 2 weeks. Endlessly fascinating, the epitaphs come in all sizes and styles (as will become apparent as more uploads appear).
While most of the pieces I will upload are more experimental in nature, this first one is a very accessible (but modernized) version of the oldest known complete song (music + lyrics) in history, namely "Seikilos Epitaph" (written by Seikilos, and dedicated to Euterpe, possibly his wife). Many versions of this song exist by now, and this video adds one to the pile. It is composed "by hand" and recorded fragment by fragment as midi information into a digital audio workstation. After all recordings were done, all tracks are executed simultaneously using a Roland Integra-7.
The epitaph has been variously dated, but seems to be either from the 1st or the 2nd century AD. The song, the melody of which is recorded, alongside its lyrics, in the ancient Greek musical notation, was found engraved on a tombstone (a stele) from the Hellenistic town Tralles near present-day Aydın, Turkey, not far from Ephesus. It is a Hellenistic Ionic song in either the Phrygian octave species or Iastian tonos. While older music with notation exists (for example the Hurrian songs), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition.
Ὅσον ζῇς φαίνου
μηδὲν ὅλως σὺ λυποῦ
πρὸς ὀλίγον ἔστι[2] τὸ ζῆν
τὸ τέλος ὁ χρόνος ἀπαιτεῖ.
hóson zêis, phaínou
mēdèn hólōs sù lupoû
pròs olígon ésti tò zên
tò télos ho khrónos apaiteî.
While you live, shine
have no grief at all
life exists only for a short while
and Time demands his due.
