They May Have Invented Bagpipes

If you were asked to list the things that come to mind when you hear the word Scotland, chances are you'd include the Loch Ness Monster, haggis, and bagpipes. While the first two are undeniably popular in Scotland, and there's no denying that bagpipes are deeply Scottish in the modern world, there's evidence that the Byzantine Empire invented them first.

"The bagpipe has traditionally been associated with Persia," Dr. Peter Frankopan, director of the Centre for Byzantine Research at Oxford, told Gulf News. "This is easily distinguished given Persia's long dateable legacy and longer recorded history being more closely associated with shepherd world music."

In this sense, Dr. Frankopan recognizes the bagpipe as being familiar to all societies that care for livestock. Bagpipes spread from the Middle East to Europe and even to China as a result of this. "Arabic music had a significant impact on Europe," Dr. Frankopan said. "In addition to the bagpipe, there were specific instruments whose names are derived from Arabic words and are derived from instruments throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain."