Editing History of music (section)

====Up to the Achaemenid period====
[[File:Bull Headed Lyre of Ur.jpg|thumb|The [[Bull Headed Lyre of Ur]], found in the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]], is the best known of the ancient [[Lyres of Ur]]]]
In general, it is impossible to create a thorough outline of the earliest music in Persia due to a paucity of surviving records.{{sfn|During|1991a|p=39}} Evidenced by {{circa|3300–3100}} BCE [[Elam]] depictions, arched harps are the first affirmation of Persian music, though it is probable that they existed well before their artistic depictions.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="2. 3rd millennium BCE: (i) Arched harps"}} Elamite bull lyres from {{circa|2450}} have been found in [[Susa]], while more than 40 small Oxus [[trumpet]]s have been found in [[Bactria]] and [[Margiana]], dated to the {{circa|2200–1750}} [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]].{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="2. 3rd millennium BCE: (ii) Bull lyres, (iii) Trumpets"}}{{refn|The size of the trumpets is so much smaller than modern trumpets that some scholars suggest they were actually funnels or spouts, but Lawergren maintains that such interpretations are "unlikely considering the precious materials and the extraordinary workmanship".{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="2. 3rd millennium BCE: (iii) Trumpets"}}|group=n}} The oxus trumpets seem to have had a close association with both religion and animals; a [[Zoroastrian]] myth in which Jamshid attract animals with the trumpet suggests that the Elamites used them for hunting.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="2. 3rd millennium BCE: (iii) Trumpets"}} In many ways the earliest known musical cultures of Iran are strongly connected with those of Mesopotamia. Ancient arched harps ({{circa|3000}}) also exist in the latter and the scarcity of instruments makes it unclear as to which culture the harp originated.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="2. 3rd millennium BCE: (i) Arched harps"}} [[Lyres of Ur|Far more bull lyres]] survive in [[Ur]] of Mesopotamia, notably the [[Bull Headed Lyre of Ur]], though they are nearly identical to their contemporary Elamite counterparts.{{sfn|Lawergren|2009|loc="i. Third Millennium B.C.E.: (2) Bull lyres in western Iran"}} From the evidence in terracotta plaques, by the 2nd-century BCE the arched harp was displaced by the [[angular harp]]s, which existed in 20-string vertical and nine-string horizontal variants.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="3. 2nd millennium BCE: (i) Angular harps"}} Lutes were purportedly used in Mesopotamia by at least 2300 BCE, but not until {{circa|1300}} BCE do they appear in Iran, where they became the dominant string instruments of [[Western Iran]], though the available evidence suggests its popularity was outside of the elite.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="3. 2nd millennium BCE: (ii) Lutes"}} The [[rock relief]]s of [[Kul-e Farah]] show that sophisticated Persian court ensembles emerged in the 1st-century BCE, in the which the central instrument was the arched harp.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="4. 1st millennium BCE: (i) Elamite harp ensembles"}} The prominence of musicians in these certain rock reliefs suggests they were essential in religious ceremonies.{{sfn|Waele|1989|pp=34–35}}

Like earlier periods, extremely little contemporary information on the music of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (550–330 BCE) exists.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="4. 1st millennium BCE: (iii) Achaemenid period, 550–331 BCE"}}{{sfn|Farhat|2004|p=3}} Most knowledge on the Achaemenid musical culture comes from Greek historians.{{sfn|Farhat|2004|p=3}} In his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', [[Herodotus]] noted that Achaemenid priests did not use [[aulos]] music in their ceremonies, while [[Xenophon]] reflected on his visit to Persia in the ''[[Cyropaedia]]'', mentioning the presence of many female singers at court.{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="4. 1st millennium BCE: (iii) Achaemenid period, 550–331 BCE"}} [[Athenaeus]] also mentions female singers when noting that 329 of them had been taken from the [[King of Kings]] [[Darius III]] by Macedonian general [[Parmenion]].{{sfn|Lawergren|2001|loc="4. 1st millennium BCE: (iii) Achaemenid period, 550–331 BCE"}} Later Persian texts assert that ''[[Gusans|gōsān]]'' poet-musician [[minstrel]]s were prominent and of considerable status in court.{{sfn|Boyce|1957|pp=20–21}}