This book represents an attempt to recapture the compositional ideas of the ancient world. The purpose of this book, in brief, is to demonstrate the place of music in the life of the ancient Semitic cultures, and to investigate the types of music these people developed through a study of their instruments and literary texts set to music. --from the Preface.

Reprint of the ed. published by Vantage Press, New York. "Musical examples": pages 123-127

Foreword --Preface -- List of illustrations -- Introduction -- Mesopotamia -- Egypt -- Palestine -- Arabia -- Assyria -- Phoenicia -- Syria -- Abyssinia -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Theoretical notation of a Sumerian hymn -- Egyptian poetry -- Chart of comparative cantillations -- Comparative scales and metrics -- Musical examples -- Bibliography -- Index.