String Instruments Depicted in the Paintings of Ancient Elam

The archaeological excavation of ancient Elam has led to the recovery of remnants, showing the rise and fall of a Persian civilization as well as reflecting how music and instruments (musicianship) were popular in those eras. Such archeological findings have mostly been portrayed on rock and pottery. A series of pictograms have depicted musical instruments while the majority of depicted string instruments are harps and tanburs. Wrapped in the Elamite culture, these instruments were passed on to the next civilizations, experiencing transformation over time. This descriptive-analytical research attempts to explore the string instruments in ancient Elam, thereby to review the historical roots of Iranian string instruments. The paper first provides an overview of music in ancient Elam. Then, several pictograms depicting string instruments are examined to determine their diversity and significance. The results indicate that harp and tanbur were the most frequent and diverse string instruments depicted in the paintings of ancient Elam.