Heptachord

Heptachord, from Greek heptachordos, from ancient greek ἑπτάχορδος (heptákhordos, "seven-stringed"), from ἑπτά (heptá, "seven") + χορδή (khordḗ, "chord"), is a 7-stringed lyre of ancient Greece, the interval of a seventh, or a (diatonic) scale of seven notes or tones.[1]

7-stringed lyre

Most of the ancient greek lyres had 7 strings.[2] Early lyres originate in ancient Mesopotamia.[3]

Interval of a seventh

Two intervals are possible:

Scale of seven notes

A heptachord is based on two consecutive tetrachords.[4]

Basic tetrachords

1½1, ½11, 11½

and the tritone
111

7 modes

The 7 modal patterns for the Babylonian heptachords are:[5][6]

Babylonian tonal system
Mode Pattern Center note Semitones Tritones
kitmum 1½11½1 D 10 0
pītum ½11½11 E 10 0
qablītum 11½11½ C 10 0
išartum 1½111½ G 10 1
embūbum ½111½1 A 10 1
nīd qablim 111½11 B 11 2
nīš tuḫrim 11½111 F 11 2

2 consecutive heptachords

7 consecutive heptachords

6 cyclic consecutive heptachords

Tuning

A tuning procedure ‘loosening’ (TU.LU)[9] in Music of Mesopotamia for a 7-stringed instrument based on a transposition to D/D♭:[5][10]

‘tightening’ (GÍD.I)

Basic tetrachord with 4 semitones

½1½

Heptachords with 9 semitones

½1½1½1 and 1½1½1½

References

  1. ^ "Definition of HEPTACHORD". Merriam-Webster. 5 August 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  2. ^ Levy, Michael (15 October 2018). "How Did The Ancient Greeks Tune A 7-String Lyre?". Composer for Lyre. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  3. ^ "Museum of Ancient Inventions: Sumerian Bull Lyre, SciTech Institute". SciTech Institute. 24 October 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  4. ^ "early ancient Greek musical scale with two conjunct tetrachords = heptachord". Encyclopedia of Microtonal Music Theory. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  5. ^ a b Crickmore, Leon (2008). A New Light on the Babylonian Tonal System (PDF). Proceedings of the International Conference of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology (ICONEA 2008), The British Museum, London, December 4–6, 2008, editors: Richard Dumbrill and Irving Finkel. London: Iconea Publications. pp. 11–22.
  6. ^ Crickmore, Leon (2012). "A Musicological Interpretation of the Akkadan Term Siḫpu". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 64 (1): 57–64. doi:10.5615/jcunestud.64.0057. ISSN 0022-0256. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  7. ^ Lambert, Wilfred G. (2013). Babylonian creation myths. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-57506-861-9. OCLC 861537250.
  8. ^ Stephens, Kathryn (2013), "An/Anu (god)", Ancient Mesopotamian Gods and Goddesses, Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, UK Higher Education Academy
  9. ^ Kilmer, Anne (2001). "Mesopotamia". Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.18485. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 6 February 2026.
  10. ^ Crickmore, Leon (2008). "A Musical and Mathematical Context for CBS 1766". Music Theory Spectrum. 30 (2): 327–359. doi:10.1525/mts.2008.30.2.327. ISSN 0195-6167. Retrieved 25 February 2026.

Further reading

Look up heptachord in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.