3rd millennium BC in music

Events

c. 3000 BC - The invention of the castanets in Early Dynastic Egypt.^[1]
c. 2800 BC - The invention of the clapper, a basic form of percussion instrument, in Early Dynastic Egypt.^[2]
c. 2800 BC - The invention of the harp and the lyre in Mesopotamia.^[3]^[4]
c. 2686-2181 BC - The invention of the Sistrum, a musical instrument of the percussion family.^[5]
c. 2600 BC - The creation of Standard of Ur which includes soundbox of a musical instrument^[6]^[7]
c. 2550–2450 BC - The invention of the Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, string instrument used in Mesopotamia.
c. 2550–2450 BC - The invention of the Lyres of Ur, a stringed musical instrument from the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia.^[8]
c. 2500 BC - Around ninety royal servants—including soldiers, grooms, and female musicians—were buried alive in the tomb of a royal couple in Ur.^[3]^[9]
c. 2500 BC - The invention of thin lyres in northern Syria.^[10]
c. 2500 BC - The invention of thick lyres in Uruk and Susa.^[10]
c. 2300 BC - The earliest known composer is born, Enheduanna, priestess of the moon god Nanna (Sīn).^[7]
c. 2200 BC - A song was composed during the Old Kingdom of Egypt and subsequently buried in a tomb.^[10]

^ "The Music of Antiquity". CNRS News. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
^ Sachs, Curt (2012-09-19). The History of Musical Instruments. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-17151-7.
^ ^a ^b "3100-1000 BCE". Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/acref/9780191735363.timeline.0001 (inactive 11 July 2025). Retrieved 2024-10-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
^ "lyre", World Encyclopedia, Philip's, 2004, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-954609-1, retrieved 2024-10-07
^ "Sistrum: The Sacred Shaker in Ancient Egyptian Rituals - Golden Musical Instruments". 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
^ "British Museum - The Standard of Ur". 2015-10-29. Archived from the original on 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
^ ^a ^b "Music on Earth". Chasing the Chords. 2020-02-02. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
^ Michael Chanan (1994). Musica Practica: The Social Practice of Western Music from Gregorian Chant to Postmodernism. Verso. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-85984-005-4.
^ Darvill, Timothy (2009-01-01), "Ur, Iraq", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199534043.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-953404-3, retrieved 2024-10-07
^ ^a ^b ^c "An Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Music". Tour Egypt.

v t e Ancient music
By region	Mesopotamia Hittites Egypt India Ancient Tamil music China Persia Achaemenid Parthian Sasanian Greece Rome Maya Celtic
Extant music	Delphic Hymns Hurrian songs Katolophyromai Oxyrhynchus hymn Seikilos epitaph
By millennium	3rd millennium BC 2nd millennium BC 1st millennium BC 1st millennium
Preceded by Prehistoric music