Editing Lyre (section)

==Cultural use in Ancient Greece==
[[File:Rhyton en forme de tête de chien, détail.JPG|thumb|Lyre with tortoiseshell body ([[rhyton]], {{circa|475 BC}}). Shows strap that stabilizes instrument.]]
[[File:Pothos Apollo Musei Capitolini MC649.jpg|thumb|[[Pothos (mythology)|Pothos]] (Desire), restored as [[Apollo Citharoedus]] during the Roman era (1st or 2nd century CE, based on a Greek work {{circa|300 BCE}}); the cithara strings are not extant.]]

In [[Ancient Greece]], [[recitation]]s of [[lyric poetry]] were accompanied by lyre playing. The earliest picture of a Greek lyre appears in the famous [[Hagia Triada sarcophagus|sarcophagus]] of [[Hagia Triada]] (a [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] settlement in [[Crete]]). The sarcophagus was used during the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] occupation of Crete ({{circa|1400 BCE}}).<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20160203074243/http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/dlevine/Hagia-Triada.jpg Image of Hagia Triada Sarcophagus], University of Arkansas.</ref><ref>J. A. Sakellarakis. ''Herakleion Museum. Illustrated Guide to the Museum.'' Ekdotike Athinon, Athens 1987, p. 113 f.</ref>

The lyre of classical antiquity was ordinarily played by being [[strum]]med like a [[guitar]] or a [[zither]], rather than being [[Plucked string instrument|plucked]] with the fingers as with a harp. A pick called a [[plectrum]] was held in one hand, while the fingers of the free hand silenced the unwanted strings.

=== Construction ===
A classical lyre has a hollow body or sound-chest (also known as [[soundbox]] or resonator), which, in ancient Greek tradition, was made out of turtle shell.<ref name=Perseus /><ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lyre Entry "Lyre"] at Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2012-09-17.</ref> Extending from this sound-chest are two raised arms, which are sometimes hollow, and are curved both outward and forward. They are connected near the top by a crossbar or yoke. An additional crossbar, fixed to the sound-chest, makes the bridge, which transmits the vibrations of the strings. The deepest note was that closest to the player's body; since the strings did not differ much in length, more weight may have been gained for the deeper notes by thicker strings, as in the [[violin]] and similar modern instruments, or they were tuned by having a slacker ''tension''. The strings were of [[Catgut|gut]] (animal intestines). They were stretched between the yoke and bridge, or to a tailpiece below the bridge. There were two ways of tuning: one was to fasten the strings to pegs that might be turned, while the other was to change the placement of the string on the crossbar; it is likely that both expedients were used simultaneously.<ref name=West1992/>

Lyres were used without a [[fingerboard]], no Greek description or representation having ever been met with that can be construed as referring to one. Nor was a bow possible, the flat sound-board being an insuperable impediment. The pick, or plectrum, however, was in constant use. It was held in the right hand to set the upper strings in vibration; when not in use, it hung from the instrument by a ribbon. The fingers of the left hand touched the lower strings (presumably to silence those whose notes were not wanted).<ref name=West1992/>

=== Number of strings ===
Before Greek civilization had assumed its historic form (c. 1200 BCE), there was likely to have been great freedom and independence of different localities in the matter of lyre stringing, which is corroborated by the antique use of the chromatic (half-tone) and enharmonic ([[quarter-tone]]) tunings - pointing to an early exuberance, and perhaps also to a bias towards refinements of intonation.{{original research inline|date=October 2019}} The number of strings on the classical lyre therefore varied, with three, four, six, seven, eight and ten having been popular at various times.

The priest and biographer [[Plutarch]] (c. 100 CE) wrote of the musicians of the [[Greek Heroic Age|archaic period]] [[Olympus (musician)|Olympus]] and [[Terpander]], that they used only three strings to accompany their recitation; but there is no evidence for or against this dating from that period. The earliest known lyre had four strings, tuned to create a [[tetrachord]] or series of four tones filling in the interval of a perfect fourth. By doubling the tetrachord a lyre with seven or eight strings was obtained. Likewise the three-stringed lyre may have given rise to the six-stringed lyre depicted on many archaic Greek vases. The accuracy of this representation cannot be insisted upon, the vase painters being little mindful of the complete expression of details; yet one may suppose their tendency would be rather to imitate than to invent a number. It was their constant practice to represent the strings as being damped by the fingers of the left hand of the player, after having been struck by the plectrum held in the right hand.<ref name=West1992/>

=== Origin ===
[[File:A reconstruction of an ancient lyre, Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.jpg|left|thumb|A modern reconstruction of [[Hermes]]' lyre by [[Museum of Ancient Greek Technology|Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology]], in [[Athens]], Greece.]]
According to ancient [[Greek mythology]], the young god [[Hermes]] stole a herd of sacred cows from Apollo. In order not to be followed, he made shoes for the cows which were facing backwards, making it appear that the animals had walked in the opposite direction. Apollo, following the trails, could not follow where the cows were going. Along the way, Hermes slaughtered one of the cows and offered all but the entrails to the gods. From the entrails and a [[tortoise]]/[[turtle shell]], he created the Lyre. Apollo, figuring out it was Hermes who had his cows, confronted the young god. Apollo was furious, but after hearing the sound of the lyre, his anger faded. Apollo offered to trade the herd of cattle for the lyre. Hence, the creation of the lyre is attributed to Hermes. Other sources credit it to Apollo himself.<ref>For example, the ''[[Annales Cambriae]]'' (B Text).</ref>

Some of the cultures using and developing the lyre were the [[Aeolis|Aeolian]] and [[Ionia]]n Greek colonies on the coasts of Asia (ancient [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], modern day [[Turkey]]) bordering the Lydian empire. Some mythic masters like [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]], and [[Thamyris]] were believed to have been born in [[Thrace]], another place of extensive Greek colonization. The name ''kissar'' ([[cithara]]) given by the ancient Greeks to Egyptian box instruments reveals the apparent similarities recognized by Greeks themselves. The cultural peak of [[ancient Egypt]], and thus the possible age of the earliest instruments of this type, predates the 5th century classic [[Greece]]. This indicates the possibility that the lyre might have existed in one of Greece's neighboring countries, either [[Thrace]], [[Lydia]], or [[Egypt]], and was introduced into Greece at pre-classic times.