Music from Ancient Meroë

Reconstructing Queen Amanishakheto’s Auloi

Edited by Susanne Gänsicke Edited by Stefan Hagel

Book cover: Music from Ancient Meroë

Publisher: Lockwood Press

Subjects: Ancient Egypt, Music & Performing Arts

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9781957454740

9 x 12 inches

Price: $95.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9781957454696

Price: $0.00

eBook (Published)

(April 2026)

ISBN: 9781957454177

Price: $0.00

In 1921, the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition to Meroë in the northern Sudan excavated a cache of ancient wind instruments in the tomb of Queen Amanishakheto from the late first century BCE. This volume presents the results of a twelve-year-long research and conservation project on the auloi of Meroë.


In 1921, the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition to Meroë in the northern Sudan excavated a cache of ancient wind instruments in the tomb of Queen Amanishakheto from the late first century BCE. Although recognized as important testimonies to the music of classical antiquity at the moment of discovery, the instruments were highly deteriorated and fragmented. Over decades, scholars attempted to understand the find, but the sheer number of fragments had made a meaningful interpretation almost hopeless—until now. This volume presents the results of a twelve-year-long research and conservation project on the auloi of Meroë. It offers a contextualized narrative of discovery, detailed documentation of the cache, and the technical and musical interpretations of the twelve pipes. It serves readers with various interests, ranging from Nubia and the ancient Nile Valley through the histories of music and technology between the Greco-Roman world and the Empire of Kush, and particularly the community of scholars and practitioners of the aulos.

  • Edited by Susanne Gänsicke
  • Edited by Stefan Hagel