Music in Assyria

An equally ancient system existred here, the outcome of the culture of Babylon, which city, dating from 3000 B.C., was merged in the Assyrian Empire about 1300 B.C. At Nineveh, resplendent in the eighth and severnth centures B.C., the warlike character of the people was reflected in their instruments, which, though similar to those of Egypt, were yet constructed so that they might be strapped to the body, and thus carried in processions.

The most popular of these was the Dulcimer, shaped like a zither, played by little hammers held in the hands, and made in both horizontal and vertical form; while other instruments were portable harps, lutes, double pipes, trumpets, drums, tambourines, etc. Many instruments of percussion were in use, and all the music was high-pitched and shrill; indeed, the women are represented on monuments as pinching their throats to produce the desired high tones.