This is my 2001 computer drawn copy of a detail from an Egyptologist's early 1900's copy of an Egyptian tomb wall painting (1480-1070 bc) in Thebes. The entire image included three young women playing instruments and dancing, and is typical of a number of paintings on tomb walls in Egypt over the millenia during which such tombs were constructed for important Egyptian figures. What the instrument might be I do not know, but its shape, the way it is held, and what looks like a small pic in the performer's visible hand, certainly indicate it was a stringed instrument of some sort. Egyptians placed images, some carved, some painted, some both, in their tomb to depict on-going life and what was significant, so while the specific occasion for music making depicted in this painting remains a mystery, the inclusion of musicians, as usual, reflects their importance for legitimizing societal structures and affairs. Thus, it has always been....

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