Music

No system of notation has come down to us. But there are many evidences that music was much thought of. According to Plato the rules about music were most rigid, only certain kinds being allowed by government. Strabo confirms this, saying that “the children of the Egyptians were taught letters, the songs appointed by law, and a certain kind of music established by government, to the exclusion of every other.” Diodorus does not agree with this, but admits that the Greek poets and musicians visited Egypt in order to improve their art. The origin of music was ascribed to divinity, sometimes to Isis, but more particularly to Thoth (q.v.). Primitive music consists chiefly of instruments of percu ion, followed, as culture progre es, by reeds and flutes. But in quite early times the Egyptians used stringed instruments of different kinds. In Theban tombs great harps six feet high with many strings are depicted, which indicates an advanced knowledge of intervals. A well-known picture represents a comic proce ion of a donkey, a lion, a crocodile, and an ape, playing a harp, two other stringed instruments, and the double pipes.