Editing Harp (section)

==== Armenia ====
{{see also|Angular harp#Steppe zone}}
In [[Armenia]], stringed instruments such as the lyre have been use since ancient times; the lyre was documented in artwork on a silver goblet from Karashamb, Armenia in the 22nd-21st centuries B.C.<ref name=PrehistArm>{{Cite journal |date=2015-04-28 |title=Music in Prehistoric Armenia |url=http://www.davidpublisher.com/index.php/Home/Article/index?id=7512.html |journal=Journal of Literature and Art Studies |volume=5 |issue=4 |doi=10.17265/2159-5836/2015.04.003 |quote=The mentioned data are confirmed by archaeological evidence on musical instruments (cf. Kushnareva, 2000; Khachatryan, 2001), according to which during Bronze and Iron Ages (ca. 3rd-2nd millennia B.C.) the following stringed, wind and percussive instruments were known in Armenia: lyre, harp, lute, pipe-flute, drum, and bell-shaped objects...The appearance of the harp/lyre must be connected to Near Eastern influences. }}</ref> The horizontal harp potentially dates back between 700 B.C. (when it appeared in Assyrian artwork) and the 5th-4th centuries B.C. (the date for examples dug up in the  [[Altai Mountains]], and then in [[Xinjiang]] in northwestern China).<ref name=xiejin2>{{cite web |title= Reflection upon Chinese Recently Unearthed Konghous in Xin Jiang Autonomous Region |author= Xie Jin |publisher= Musicology Department, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China |url= https://musicology.cn/news/news_299.html |archive-date= 4 March 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083704/https://musicology.cn/news/news_299.html |quote=The konghous in Xinjiang are not only similar between themselves，but also alike with the ancient harps in Pazyryk (350 B.C, FIG. 4) [vii], Assyria (650 B.C, FIG. 5), and Olbia (400-200 B.C, FIG. 6)}}</ref><ref name=Lawergren3>{{cite web |url=http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/physics/faculty/lawergren/repository/files/AngularHarpsThroughtheAges.pdf |title=Angular Harps Through the Ages – A Causal History |access-date=12 August 2011 |author= |last=Lawergren |first=Bo |date= |format= |work= |publisher= |page= 264 |language=English }}</ref> The theory is that the instrument spread between the two locations (which would include Armenia), helped by such tribes as the Scythians.<ref name=Lawergren3/> 

Common usages included weddings and funerals.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tahmizyan |first=Narine |date=1997 |lang=hy |script-title=hy:Երաժշտության տեսությունը հին Հայաստանում |trans-title=Music Theory in Ancient Armenia |publisher=Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR. |page=41}}</ref> The "horn beaker with a feast scene", found inside a vessel in [[Nor Aresh]] and now preserved in the [[Erebuni Fortress]], depicts a lyre.{{sfn|Tahmizyan|1997|p=23}} Information about early medieval Armenian musical instruments has been found in Armenian translations of the Bible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Աճառյան |first=Հ․ |author-link=Hrachia Acharian |year=1926 |title=Հայէրեն արմատական բառարան |trans-title=Armenian root dictionary |location=Երևան [Yerevan] |publisher=Yerevan University Publishing House |pages=390}}</ref>{{sfn|Tahmizyan|1997|pp=60–61}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harutyunyan |first=Gayane |year=2020 |lang=hy |script-title=hy:Հայկական տավիղներ |trans-title=Armenian Harps |journal=Երաժշտական Հայաստան [Musical Armenia]}}</ref> In the past, the stringed instruments such as lyres and harps were played in the royal residences, in the royal recreation rooms.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} Sometimes not only the royal musicians, but the kings themselves were depicted in artwork playing the instrument.

=====Lyres and harps in Armenian artwork=====
Artwork in the gallery below shows a variety of Eastern and Western styles as well as some that could be from either.

<gallery>
Տավիղ եղջերեգավաթի վրա, Էրեբունու թանգարան.jpg|Circa 4th century B.C. Horn beaker found at Nor Aresh district near the Erebuni Fortress. Contains feast scene of a man and three women. One woman has a lyre. [[Erebuni Museum]]  
Տավիղ, Էրեբունու թանգարան.jpg|Circa 4th century B.C. Woman with [[lyre]] from horn beaker, found in excavation at the Nor Aresh district.Erebuni Museum.

Արքայական ծագում ունեցող տավղահար.jpg|An Armenian royal harpist. Style similar to Chinese [[konghou]] and Persian [[Chang (instrument)|chang]].
Տավիղ միջնադարյան արծաթե գավաթի վրա.jpg|A harp on a medieval Armenian silver cup. Style resembles [[:File:Utrechts-Psalter PSALM-67 instruments.jpg|harps from Utrecht Psalter]] (Western Europe) or the [[Rotte (psaltery)|rotte]].
File:Նկ․ 5.jpg|[[Medieval harp|European style harp]] in Armenian artwork

File:Group of Musicians,, XVIth or XVIIth century.jpg|Armenian manuscript showing musicians, including harper. Resembles Persian or Central-Asian chang, as well as Chinese konghou.
</gallery>