The Babylonians and Assyrians (and later the Hebrews and Greeks) divided the day (and night) into twelve equal portions, so that the 'hour' increased and decreased in length over the course of a year. Known as seasonal or planetary hours, each hour, beginning at sunrise was ruled by one of the 7 planets.7 For example: Sunrise on Wednesday (Mercurius) was ruled by Mercury; approx. one hour later, the Moon hour began. An hour more, was the Saturn hour. And so forth, until at sunrise the following day we find the Jupiter hour (Jupiter = Thor = Thor's day). This denoted the timing of temple service: The planet and hour that ruled that day occuring at sunrise, mid-day, and late evening. The Hebrews also had a psalm for each day, "rules" for what & when to say and sing.8
However, before we attempt to show any connection between the 7 ancient planets and the 7 scale names, let's look more closely at the religious pantheon: I list as it was done by them long ago: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. That is, according to relative diurnal (daily) motion.9 Though their names have changed over centuries and cultures, their symbolic description have very little and provides the key to the understanding of what follows.
The Moon, Sin to the Babylonians was part of a triune with Venus/Ishtar and the Sun/Shamash. It was akin and its life was entwine w/ the vegetation cycle. Therefore it had precedence over rising of tides, water, the rain, planting & harvest, food, bounty. It was that on which all else depended, the bowl/bough of nurturance; later named Baal, the 'vegetation'/storm god of the Canaanites. 10
Mercury, currently the winged messenger, is more complex than Roman/Greek mythology would have us believe. As god of scribes, writing, & communication, it was based upon the Canaanite/Aramaean god Nabu or Nebo. However, Mercury's origin correlates best to Hermes Trismegistus (hermes trice-great). With this moniker comes telepathy, the universal mind: It is "by his knowledge" that "everything has been brought into being".11 Mercury's glyph bears the horned headdress, or divine crown.12 Therefore, I purport that Mercury is Ea or El, the creator of all things by thought alone; the image fashioner, god of shaping, giving original form; the standard, the archetype.13 According to Pfeifer (1969), Mercury is Yahweh; the first day of the Hebrew month always fell on Wednesday (Mercurdi).14
Venus/Ishtar/Inanna was originally the bearer of life, the Divine Mother. The Creatress, the feminine aspect; love, life, beauty, and appreciation (note the ankh of Egypt is similar to the glyph of Venus).15
Saturn/Cronos/Ninurta, god of the plough, god of the farmer.16 God of the spring flood. A defender against outer foes, the righter of internal wrongs; hence to become the Lord of Karma. The god of judgment and administration. Finally, he is "that by which everything is accomplished and the rituals and schedules are not changed"; e.g., perpetual consistency.17
Technically, after speaking with Prof. Anne Kilmer of UCB and receiving the pamphlet IRAQ XLVI (1984) in 1986, I was certain I denoted a correlation between the scale names and these planets of ancient astrology. "OPEN"; "CLOSED"; "MIDDLE"; "PLACE OF THE MIDDLE". Realizing "middle" fell at the mid-way point of 9 strings and "place/fall of the middle" was located mid-way between 7 strings (the octave), these became my first clues: To connect, associate, assign the 7 ancient planets to these 7 scale names.
| pitu | kitmu | qabli | nid qabli | embubu | isartu | nis gabri | |||||||||||||||||
| Open | Closed | Middle | Place/Mid | Reed | Normal | Rise/Duplicate | |||||||||||||||||
| 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
"NORMAL" also meant upright or straight-up (virtuous?). REED PIPE (embubu) meandered back to, in general terms, love, making love or those that make love or perform on flutes of romance; some accounts state "prostitutes".18 Thus, it was apparent that Venus was connected, as it always is, to LOVE. (Venus = str #3).
Next, it was noted, when listed by their string names, string #4 was always given the title Ea-creator. But why? To what were the scribes referring? ("Fall into place/Be now formed."?)19 And what about "open" & "closed"? Which octave species (A-G, B-A, C-B, etc.) correlates to which scale name? Obviously a new tack was needed.
Observing the relation, the order? of whole tones to half tones within an octave I saw a quality of reflection. That is, the octave of A-A has whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole, whole; the octave of G-G contains whole, whole, half, whole, whole, half, whole. Thus opposites; reflectiveness. See figure below.
| A | w | B | h | C | w | D | w | E | h | F | w | G | w | A |
| B | h | C | w | D | w | E | h | F | w | G | w | A | w | B |
| C | w | D | w | E | h | F | w | G | w | A | w | B | h | C |
| D | w | E | h | F | w | G | w | A | w | B | h | C | w | D |
| E | h | F | w | G | w | A | w | B | h | C | w | D | w | E |
| F | w | G | w | A | w | B | h | C | w | D | w | E | h | F |
| G | w | A | w | B | h | C | w | D | w | E | h | F | w | G |
So too the planets of astrology possess qualities of reflection; e.g., Venus to Mars (female/male); but what of the others? Moon to Sun? Jupiter to Saturn? Moon to Saturn? After much trial and error I concluded A thru G was conciliatory w/ Moon thru Saturn. It was "As simple as A-B-C". That is, C-D-E-F-G-A-B is Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc. See also Ornitho (1973).20
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | ||||||
| Moon | Mercury | Venus | Sun | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | ||||||
So now we have Venus w/ str #3 w/ tone C. But is str #1: A or E? That question was answered first by carefully reading the transliteration of text #6, "A Musical Tablet From Sippar (?)".21 Here we observe the first five strings listed, named (fore, next, thin, etc.), and then curiously, a prayer. A prayer or adoration is given for each of the first five strings of the 9-string lyre.
one = fore string, "E[n........................"]
two = next string, Enmesarra, lord(?) of...and like...]
let shine for you, like a torch let............................"]
three = third-thin string, "Great goddess, creatress of god and man
who makes prosper.................,]
protectress of truth and justice....................................."]
four = Ea-creator string, "Sullat and Hanis...in............,]
gather your enemy [...................................................."]
five = fifth string, (is) like "open".......................]
(is) like "reed-pipe"..., ".............]
............the wicked.............you have no rival..................,]
your evil ones like plants, your enemies [you destroy........."]
Note of course str #3 clearly a reference to the feminine; e.g., Ninhursaga, Inanna, Ishtar, Venus. String #2 refers to the Sun, though some may say str #4 as Ea-creator makes a stronger case.22 HOWEVER, Enmesarra was a Sun god. There too, the Sun as Shamash was the Son of the Moon and Venus, THEY in turn were the OFFSPRING of Ea.23 In regards to str #1, we are confident the broken illegible "En..." is in fact Endursaga, the Sumerian herald god. His place at the 'head' of the list due to his personal mythology: He leads the pantheon, particularly in times of conflict.24 Seems to make an easy case of association w/ today's Mars. Therefore, the Sun is placed at str #2; Mars at str #1. Thus str #2 is D; str #1 is E.
Secondly, our question (Is str #1: A or E?) is answered by music history courses taught in college & universities: The Greeks passed to us the use of the words mése (w/A) and paramése (w/B).25 Mése means "middle", and paramése is "next to the middle". These are the very same terms used 1000 years earlier in Mesopotamia. Thus we place A at str #5 and B to str #4. It then follows Jupiter is "open" (expansive) and Saturn is "closed" (limits), the same astrological labels they've had for roughly 3000 years. QED.
String/Scale/Planet correlation complete
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Open | Closed | Middle | Place/Mid | Reed | Normal | Rise/Dup | ||||||
| Jupiter | Saturn | Moon | Mercury | Venus | Sun | Mars | ||||||
| FAUT | SOL RE UT | MÉSE | PARAMÉSE | UT | SOL RE | MI | ||||||
| F | G | A | B | C | D | E | ||||||
Want more? How 'bout a full BIBLIOGRAPHY? Or maybe some Lab Results testing my system of planet to tone transposition. Part 2 of this manuscript is a bit more technical and extensive. Close all unnecessary applications in preparation for data on tonal frequencies and beat rates, colour & Zodical sign correlation and (horror of horrors!) brainwave frequencies. Also available is the Appendix, another step beyond Pt 1 & Pt 2, which incorporates the finest bits of archæological info plus info garnered during the research process. Together, the net result is music produced and set to acoustic or syn piano. That is, Musical Astrology goes from mystic probability to implemented reality. For further information on how to get your own, go to ASTRO TUNES (and hear some Sun Sign sound samples. Thanks.) If this link doesn't work, go to myspace.com/astrotunes (might not happen if 'your brower is currently not supported')
FOOTNOTES
1. Crossley-Holland, 'Non-Western Music' Pelican History of Music vol i, pg.16
(Significant to my research, the following excerpt is presented - M.K.)
"From early Sumerian times (fourth millennium) the temples had been centres of learning where priests, liturgists, mathematicians, and astrologers worked together. In Chaldæan times, some three thousand years later, the tradition of astrology emerges more clearly, and we know that musical theory was already closely connected with astrology and mathematics. The peoples who studied the motions of the stars, and believed in their effects on men's destinies, held that there was a perfect harmony existing throughout the universe. Since the universe and man were closely interrelated, man could make music whose principles reflected this perfect harmony and thus come into tune with it. Mathematical speculation and symbolism loomed large in these studies, leading to numerous cosmic correspondences..." , See also pg 17 concerning Pythagoras;
Farmer, Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence, pp 117-129. E.g., pg 122: the very foundation of Greek astron., the ecliptic, the signs of the zodiac, the planetary system came from these Semites - Cumont, Astrology & Religion among the Greeks & Romans pg 42-3; pg 123: they say that it (the Harmonical proportion) was a discovery of the Babylonians & that it was first introduced by Pythagoras among the Greeks - Iamblichus, in Nichomachi Geraseni Arithmeticam Introductionem (Pistelli, ed.) pg 118; pg 123: the belief in the harmony of the spheres first arose w/ the Chaldeans - Philo Judæus vi, chap 32 & 33; pg 124: in Egypt, the priests hymn the gods through the seven notes - pseudo-Demetrius Phalereus, de Elocutione, prgrph 71 (Dionysius Halicarnassus, History of Music, Chappell, pg 53); pg 126: all that issued from the scheme of "cosmical music"-the harmony of the spheres, the theory of numbers, the doctrine of the ethos, & musical therapy would appear to have been introduced to the Greeks by Pythagoras or Pythagoreans from Babylon & Egypt - Farmer, Influence of Music from Arabic Sources, p 5;
Guthrie, pg 61 "...to Babylonia, studied arithmetic, music and all the other sciences";
Taylor, Iamblichus: On the mysteries, pp 130-2n;
New Grove's Dictionary of Music & Musicians vol 15, pp 485-7;
Burnet, pp 80-112 (Pythagoras); pp 276-309 (Pythagoreans);
Gurney, pp 105-06 "...Plato's 'harmony of the spheres'...has always been thought to have been borrowed from the Near East..."
2. Campbell, pp 136-150 The Sphinx was a monument in homage to TIME and its triumph over physical reality; break-down, decay. See M.P. Hall, pg 21 (facing) & fn #16
3. The Magi were astrologers. See Neugebauer, O. Astronomical Cuneiform Texts, 1983
4. Kilmer, A. D. "A Musical Tablet..." pp 69-80. The tuning began on the str indicative to the scale; e.g., the "normal" tuning began on str #2 (or was it #9?) then moved to str 6 then 3-7-4-1-5. Tonewise, the tuning must start in either B or F to achieve a smooth flow of 4ths and 5ths; i.e., B-E-A-D-G-C-F or F-C-G-D-A-E-B (Helmholtz, pg 279n); the tuning and listing of scale names began with str #9 'cause it's the lowest: Like a guitar. The harp is also numbered as such, the shortest, highest string being #1. One wonders if they had some sort of tuning tool. Buzzzzz
Starting with string #2/#9 and actually going thru the entire tuning process/cycle (str 2, then 6, 3, 7, 4, 1, 5) is as follows: (Imagine the following capital letters as notes going up the piano keyboard. But number them 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 B C D E F G A B C When we get to the 5 - 2 interval we "throw down" the B to Bb, giving us.... Bb C D E F G A Bb C Start the kitmu tuning on string #6, when we get to the 2 - 6 interval we "throw down" the E to Eb, giving us.... Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C The embubu tuning, starting on str #3. "Throw down"/loosen the A, gives us... Bb C D Eb F G Ab Bb C The pitu tuning, starting on str #7. "Throw down"/loosen the D, gives us... Bb C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C The nid qabli tuning, starting on str #4. "Throw down"/loosen the G, gives us.. Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C The nis gabri tuning, starting on str #1. "Throw down"/loosen the C, gives us.. Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb Cb The qabli tuning, starting on str #5...In reality, if one puts oneself in their place, a player/tuner might have started on the string indicative to the desired tuning. Say, str #4; performed the song and then wanted to perform a song in the CLOSED tuning, str #6. Instead of going thru all the other scales to get to it, they may have just started tuning from str #6. Gurney (1994, pg 104) also alludes to this. For example:
D E F G A B C D E 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1This, by the way is the "nid qabli" tuning, begins on str #4. It's the one used for all hymns and adorations.
The performer now wants to do a song in the "closed" tuning (6-3-7-4-1-5-2), so begins tuning from str #6. G to C, C to F, F to B, that's 'unclear', so the tuner 'throws down' or loosens the B to give us a Bb. Bb to E, again tunes down to Eb, and so on to arrive at...
Db Eb F G Ab Bb C Db Eb 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Subsequently, the artist could reverse the order and return to the former tuning. 6-2-5-1-4, tighten the Db to D, then Ab to A, Eb to E, Bb to B. If he got carried away, going on to the B/F, 4/7 interval, tightening the F to F#, the C to C#, this would give us an entirely different scale/tuning (embubu/reed pipe)...
D E F# G A B C# D E 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
5. ibid.; BAR Sept/Oct '80 vol vi, #5, pp 14-25 "World's Oldest Musical Notation..."
6. ibid.; Kilmer, A. D. & R. Crocker "Fragmentary Music Text..." pp 81-5
7. Devore, pg 282 & any issue of Dell Horoscope
8. Lewittes, pp 51, 274-5 psalm/day: 24/Su, 48/M, 82/T, 94/W, 81/Th, 93/F, 92/Sa;
Durant, pp 254-5, 277, 332 & Pratt, pg 45;
Do a wikipedia search re: The Music of the Bible Revealed, for info on the actual musical notation of Hebrew Psalms. Also johananrakkav.wordpress.com/ though site is marked private by its owner.
Then too, there's David Womack's 12 Signs, 12 Sons: Astrology in the Bible, which presents the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes of Israel and their associated Astrological Sign; e.g., Levi = Gemini, Gad = Sag. See pg 43
9. Mathers, order of planets: moon - saturn, pp 27-8; Devore, loc cit & Burnet, pp 110-2: planetary movement
10. BAR Jan/Feb '85 pp 22-3 "Oh bow in heaven" Sahar - Aramean moon god;
Jacobsen, pg 122 provide fertility; "...wearing...a prince's headdress,..."
Oldenburg, pg 64;
de Lubicz, pp 424-5 concerning the city of Philæ or Pa-lak at the frontier of Nubia, land of the 'nine bows' !!! nine stages of gestation !! birth-nine months, moons? (walls?, no, enclosures?, huh, limits!?, Saturn; "obstacles") nine phases, ah! (Musaios; pg 72)
the moon\mon\ the land of the nine stages\bows\mons (crescents!)
bow bowl ball |paren|theses enclose
bough baal quas/qos/qws = knowledge
food baal el/ea not spoken
str 5 str 4 never played 7-4
moon+venus=mercury moon mer no name/uni mind
11. Everard, pg i: origin of everything formed or produced by the human mind; pg 8 #8: i am that light, the mind; & pg 9 #13: The mind being God, male & female; seven governors;
Newson, pp 30-1;
Pfeifer, pg 140 "...it is "by his knowledge" that "everything has been brought into being" (11.11) Manual of Discipline.;
Taylor, op cit, pg 304n
12. BAR mar/apr '88 vol xiv, #2, pg 31 "Head of a Goddess" - Pirhiya Beck;
Jacobsen, op cit, pg 122 "...wearing...a prince's headdress,..."; pg 181 "...the horns of his crown looking up..."
13. ibid. pg 111 naqbu (nabu/nid qabli?) = source = inu = eye (pg179); standard; archetype. pg 114 find a place; quick thinking; ingenuity. pg 116 ea told him; runs the world; avoids extremes. nqmd = /niqmaddu/, name of several kings of Ugarit (Segert; pg194);
Monro, pg 40 E (Sumerian) = voice;
Oldenburg, op cit, pp 16-8 El = creator
14. ibid. pp 170-6 El = yhwh;
Pfeifer, op cit, pg 88;
Sayce, pg 168-9 Mercury = chief of the beginning/nabu or proclaimer
15. Jacobsen, op cit, pp 140-3 There was also Ninhursaga (pg104), who proceeded Inanna in the Sumerian heirarchy, and yet she is -by her Akkadian name, Dingirmah- given reference in a music tablet dating to 800 B.C. Cf fn #21
16. ibid. pg 127 Ninurta. pg 129 kingship emerging; righter of wrongs - aspects in following 3rd & 2nd millennia. pg 131...sat in judgment; gave office in his new administration. pp 133-4 processional hymn. pg 134 ...everything is accomplished by Ninurta (Lord Plough).
17. Time and time again; Nile Valley spring floods correspond to Taurus in the Solar year. Thus, I connect Saturn with Taurus, the bull.
18. Sachs, pg 106 `agàb-"was in love". `ugàb-organ, pipe, flute = love charm. pg 119 (Heb.) halîl, (Syr.) abûb-pipes = (Akk.) imbubu = pierced; that is, bored. (latin) ambubaiæ = skin-flute players. agape? imbib?;
Kilmer, A. D. 'Embubu is also the trachea', "The Discovery of an Ancient Mesopotamian Theory of Music", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 115, #2, pg 139, fn #34;
Kilmer, A. D. "Music", International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, pg 443 ambubaiæ = skin-flute players;
Grove's, vol iv, pg 619 `ogob = making passsionate loove;
Jacobsen, op cit, pg 124 A reference to Ningikuga "Lady of the pure reed", whose daughter Ningal "the great lady", wife of the moon god Nanna, was also a reed goddess
19. Kilmer, A. D. "A Musical Tablet..." pg 70;
Kilmer, A. D. & R. Crocker "Fragmentary Music Text..." pg 82
str 1 fore
str 2 next
str 3 third, thin
str 4 Sumerian: fourth, small
Akkadian: Ea-Creator
str 5 fifth
str 4 fourth behind
str 3 third behind
str 2 second behind
str 1 behind
In fact, in lieu of my Oct 1993 lecture to the AOS at UCB on the subject of the paper you are now reading, and the publication of Gurney's 1994 paper on Babylonian music, it would seem the ANE music theorists reexamined, rethought the historical evidence and came to a conclusion that confirmed my original supposition, namely: The strings are numbered from the highest pitch to the lowest. See Gurney (1994, pg 102). thank you very much!
20. Ornitho, pp 131, 143. c = ut (star/start?); d = sol re; e = la mi; f = faut; g = sol re ut (star of the sun?). ut = an/aann = en (Assyrian) = to sing (windpipe?) - Farmer, pg 125n. Ornitho got his info from Guido Aretinus' Dialogus doctrinalis. Hyginus' Astronomica (ed. Bunte), II, 42, 6-10, mentions Saturn as 'the star of the Sun'. So too, Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca Historica, II, 30, 3-4, states the Babylonians called Saturn the 'sun-star'. See the Assyro-Babylonian MUL.APIN (Hunger-Pingree), specifically II, i, 39 & 64 which attest to Saturn's alternative name as MUL.UTU (Star of the Sun); Alain Danielou's Myths and Gods of India, pp 96 & 206 -and many other Vedic writings- regarding Saturn as son of the Sun. Even as recently as the 1940's, Saturn is known as the 'Star of the Sun'. And a tip-o'-the-hat to Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music: "Doe a deer, a FEMALE deer; ray a drop of golden SUN; me a name I call MYSELF; ...etc." To modern-day scholars of the Ancient Near East, linking the present with the past might appear as follows:
| Moon | Mercury | Venus | Sun | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | ||||||||||||
| Nanna/Sin | Ea/Enki | Ningal | Utu | Nergal | Enlil | Ninurta | ||||||||||||
21. Kilmer, op cit, pp 69-80
22. Jacobsen, op cit, pg 134 the foe of darkness and deeds of darkness; Ray (Re) = Ra
23. Moscati, pg 27 & Contenau, pg 249; Shamash son of Sin
24. Jordon, Michael Dictionary of Gods and Goddesses, 2nd Edition, 2004, pg 89
25. Sachs, op cit, pg 135;
Grove's, op cit, (Greek music, ancient) vol iii, pg 775;
Farmer, op cit, pg 69;
Lawlor, pg 148;
Helmholtz, pg 242.