source file: mills3.txt Date: Mon, 18 Aug 1997 22:06:20 +0200 Subject: Minoan Music From: John Chalmers A friend of mine sent me copy of a paper by Robert R. Stieglitz, "Minoan Mathematics or Music," Bull. Amer. Soc. of Papyrologists; Studies Presented to Naphtali Lewis, vol. XV (1-2) (1978) pp. 127-132. Steiglitz argues, quite convincingly, IMO, that an incomplete wall inscription from Hagia Triada, Crete, in Linear A, is part of a tuning table or at least a proto-Lambdoma as described by Plato, Nichomachus, et al. It appears to contain the first four terms of the cycle of 3/2's, but at least 2 terms are missing from the end. The numerals are accompanied by a rare hieroglyphic sign which may mean length or even a monochord. As the contemporary Babylonians and Egyptians, with whom the Minoans were in cultural and commercial contact, already had well-developed musical systems at the period of this inscription (2nd Millenium BCE), the musical interpretation is plausible. The author, however, does admit that the table could be purely mathematical. --John SMTPOriginator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu From: non12@deltanet.com Subject: Thanks, pentagram PostedDate: 19-08-97 02:14:52 SendTo: CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH ReplyTo: tuning@eartha.mills.edu $UpdatedBy: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=coul1358/OU=AT/O=EZH,CN=Manuel op de Coul/OU=AT/O=EZH RouteServers: CN=notesrv2/OU=Server/O=EZH,CN=notesrv1/OU=Server/O=EZH RouteTimes: 19-08-97 02:14:54-19-08-97 02:14:55,19-08-97 02:12:52-19-08-97 02:12:52 DeliveredDate: 19-08-97 02:12:52 Categories: $Revisions: Received: from ns.ezh.nl by notesrv2.ezh.nl (Lotus SMTP MTA v1.1 (385.6 5-6-1997)) with SMTP id C12564F8.00015C56; Tue, 19 Aug 1997 02:14:51 +0200 Received: by ns.ezh.nl; (5.65v3.2/1.3/10May95) id AA01333; Tue, 19 Aug 1997 02:14:52 +0200 Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 02:14:52 +0200 Received: from ella.mills.edu by ns (smtpxd); id XA01336 Received: (qmail 14488 invoked from network); 19 Aug 1997 00:12:33 -0000 Received: from localhost (HELO ella.mills.edu) (127.0.0.1) by localhost with SMTP; 19 Aug 1997 00:12:33 -0000 Message-Id: Errors-To: madole@mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu