The objective is to examine the relationships between music, belief, and ritual in ancient Anatolian societies through written, visual, and archaeological sources; to enable students to evaluate the functions of music in ceremonies, the roles of performers, and the religious significance of musical instruments within their historical contexts; and to develop students' skills in conducting evidence-based research on processes of interaction, local diversity, and change by comparing examples from different cultures.

The historical and cultural geography of ancient Anatolia is examined, alongside concepts such as belief, ritual, ceremony, and music—drawing upon ritual texts, archaeological finds of musical instruments, and visual depictions. The course explores festivals, offering ceremonies, and musical practices within the Hittite world; the traces of Hatti and Hurrian traditions in Hittite sources; musical rituals centered on Matar/Kybele in Phrygian culture; as well as the cultic practices of Urartu, Lydia, and Western Anatolia during the Greek and Roman periods. The function of sound within the contexts of temples, open-air sanctuaries, funerary rites, and ceremonial processions is analyzed, with a focus on the relationships between performers, instruments, movement, and social participation. Furthermore, the course addresses the challenges posed by an imbalance in available sources, as well as the limitations surrounding claims of cultural interaction and continuity in cross-cultural comparisons.