ABSTRACT
Chapter 3, ‘Types of cultic activity and the music associated with them, 2’, continues the discussion begun in the preceding chapter. It considers music in connection with mantic traditions and warfare. Mantic traditions were an important aspect of religious cults throughout the ancient Near East, providing means for mortals to enquire after the will of the deities. In ancient Israel/Levant this took place through prophets and oracular stones (Urim and Thummim). In Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Egypt, auguries were important and were interpreted through divination. Music was a noteworthy adjunct to the process of enquiry into and communication of the divine will, typically in the utterance of and accompaniment to initial incantation and subsequent oracular pronouncement. Warfare was a religious undertaking in Near Eastern antiquity, and thus a cultic activity. Battle songs, trumpet and horn signals during battle, victory songs and pious laments in defeat are extant from the period. The music of plucked strings might sometimes be used to inspire the warriors before the fighting.
