The First Known Song Ever Written!!! The Oldest Written Melody in History c.1400 BC!!! Phoenician music interpreted from cuneiform tablets that contain the Hymn to the Moon Goddess Nikhal. Ancient Music Reaching back into ancient history, it is clear that music and musical instruments played a major part of all civilizations.
The earliest known scrap of musical notation -- a hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal -- is discussed later in this essay. What is evident today is the fact that early civilizations bequeathed explorations of theory, systems of tunings, instruments, a range of appropriate occasions for music and an emphasis on specialization and technique. In Greek mythology, Apollo was supposed to have played a "civilized" string instrument. The earliest surviving "new music manifesto" was written in 420 B.C. by Timotheus of Miletus: ...The Oldest Known Melody c.1400BC!