Abstract
At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE Mesopotamia enters into a new period which is marked by changes taking place on political, social and religious levels. Incoming Amurrite dynasties take over political power in central Babylonia, subsequently establishing their own essentially ‘Akkadian’ heritage. Throughout this process, former Sumerian traditions are maintained, overlapped or abandoned. There are many conspicuous innovations under King Hammurāpi and his successors. This chapter analyzes cuneiform manuscripts with the aim of identifying changes of temple and court music in terms of song genres, tuning systems and performance. It further searches for the initiators of these processes and their possible motivation on political and cultural grounds.