ABSTRACT
Chapter 7, ‘Approaching the musical sound-world’, explores the concept and idiom of music relevant to religious cults. In the ancient Near East, instrumental and vocal sound was integral with various types of human activity and not a discrete aural phenomenon to be enjoyed and appreciated for itself. The sound of certain instruments and instrumental noise were held to possess apotropaic powers to ward off the harmful influences of underworld demons, thereby making way for good and wholesome influences. Organology and musicology are helpful in approaching the nature of the sound itself. Musicological study of pertinent second-millennium bce cuneiform clay tablets from Babylonia and Ugarit (including those inscribed with the Hurrian hymns) has led to what may be termed conventional thinking about the tuning of harps and lyres in those regions. The character of vocal music is a matter of conjecture based on inferences from historiography, iconography and ethnomusicology. The conventional thinking about instrumental music and the conjectured character of vocal music have many issues. Separating what is not known or doubtful from what is known or can reasonably be assumed is an appropriate way of taking stock before moving forward with further research.
