Where does this come from, and can I check it?

The carved Greek stone carries melody and lyrics from around 100 AD. The figure is taken from National Museum of Denmark, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a records & extremes fact?

Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest complete song

The carved Greek stone carries melody and lyrics from around 100 AD The marble column, found near Aydin in Turkey and now held in Copenhagen, bears a short poem from about the year 100 with letters above the words indicating pitch and duration. Because both the tune and the rhythm were recorded, it can be performed today, unlike older fragments that give only partial notation. The inscription ends with a line urging the reader to live while alive. It sits in Mondo's records & extremes collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

National Museum of Denmark

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Music trivia History trivia

More facts like this

The Arkadiko Bridge is the oldest bridge still usedThe Mycenaean corbel arch was built around 1300 BC in Greece The ancient Olympics are traditionally dated to 776 BCThey were held at Olympia in Greece for about twelve centuries The Corinth Canal is too narrow for modern shipsIts channel is about 24 metres wide at water level, so most commercial vessels cannot use it Athenian forces defeated Persia at the Battle of MarathonA surprise Greek victory in 490 BCE halted the first Persian invasion of Greece The Library of Alexandria gathered ancient world knowledgePtolemaic rulers created a major centre of learning housing thousands of papyrus scrolls Spartan troops staged a heroic stand at ThermopylaeKing Leonidas led three hundred Spartans to delay a massive Persian invasion force in 480 BCE

Tags: music, greece, inscriptions

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest complete song: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: The carved Greek stone carries melody and lyrics from around 100 AD. The figure is taken from National Museum of Denmark, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a records & extremes fact?: Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.