Editing Harp (section)

=== Origin ===

==== West Asia and Egypt ====
[[File:Ur lyre.jpg|upright=0.9|right|thumb|[[Lyres of Ur]]]]
The earliest harps and lyres were found in [[Sumer]], {{nobr|3500 BCE,}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Galpin |first=F.W. |year=1929 |title=The Sumerian Harp of Ur, {{nobr|c. 3500 BCE}} |journal=Oxford Journal of Music and Letters |volume=X |issue=2 |pages=108–123 |doi=10.1093/ml/X.2.108}}</ref> and several harps were excavated from burial pits and royal tombs in [[Ur]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lyres: The Royal Tombs of Ur |url=http://sumerianshakespeare.com/509245/499545.html |publisher=SumerianShakespeare.com}}</ref> The oldest depictions of harps without a forepillar can be seen in the wall paintings of [[ancient Egypt]]ian tombs in the [[Nile Valley]], which date from as early as {{nobr|3000 BCE.}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/paintings3.pdf?gathStatIcon=true |title=Ancient Egyptian Paintings |vauthors=Davis N |date=1986 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |veditors=Gardiner A |volume=3}}</ref> These murals show an [[arched harp]], an instrument that closely resembles the hunter's bow, without the pillar that we find in modern harps.<ref name="internationalharpmuseum">{{cite web |title=History of the Harp |url=http://www.internationalharpmuseum.org/visit/history.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623222756/http://www.internationalharpmuseum.org/visit/history.html |archive-date=23 June 2016 |access-date=18 June 2016 |website=internationalharpmuseum.org |publisher=International Harp Museum}}</ref>
The ''[[Chang (instrument)|Chang]]'' flourished in Persia in many forms from its introduction, about {{nobr|4000 BCE,}} until the {{nobr|17th century {{sc|CE}}.}}
[[File:Bishapur zan, AO 26169.jpg|left|thumb|1A [[Sassanid]] era mosaic excavated at [[Bishapur]]]]

Around {{nobr|1900 BCE,}} arched harps in the Iraq-Iran region were replaced by [[angular harp]]s with vertical or horizontal sound boxes.<ref name="Agnew2010">{{Cite conference |last=Agnew |first=Neville |date=28 June – 3 July 2004 |title=Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road |conference=The Second International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites |publisher=Getty Publications |publication-date=3 August 2010 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=n8YAyXzJE2IC&pg=PA118 118] ff |isbn=978-1-60606-013-1 |place=Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, People's Republic of China}}</ref> The Kinnor ({{langx|he|{{script/Hebr|כִּנּוֹר}}}} ''kīnnōr'') was an [[Israelites|ancient Israelite]] musical instrument in the [[yoke lutes]] family, the first one to be mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]].
Its exact identification is unclear, but in the modern day it is generally translated as "harp" or "lyre",<ref name="Bromiley">{{cite book|author=Geoffrey W. Bromiley|title=The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia|date=February 1995|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zkla5Gl_66oC&pg=PA442|accessdate=4 June 2013|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-3785-1|pages=442–}}</ref>{{rp|440}} and associated with a type of [[lyre]] depicted in Israelite imagery, particularly the [[Bar Kokhba revolt|Bar Kokhba]] coins.<ref name="Bromiley"/> It has been referred to as the "national instrument" of the Jewish people,<ref name="PutnamUrban1968">{{cite book|author1=Nathanael D. Putnam|author2=Darrell E. Urban|author3=Horace Monroe Lewis|title=Three Dissertations on Ancient Instruments from Babylon to Bach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rLDoAAAAIAAJ|accessdate=4 June 2013|year=1968|publisher=F. E. Olds}}</ref> and modern [[luthier]]s have created reproduction lyres of the kinnor based on this imagery.

By the start of the Common Era, "robust, vertical, angular harps", which had become predominant in the Hellenistic world, were cherished in the [[Sasanian]] court. In the last century of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanian]] period, angular harps were redesigned to make them as light as possible ("light, vertical, angular harps"); while they became more elegant, they lost their structural rigidity. At the height of the [[Persian language|Persian]] tradition of illustrated book production (1300–1600&nbsp;CE), such light harps were still frequently depicted, although their use as musical instruments was reaching its end.<ref name="Yar-Shater2003">{{Cite book |last=Yar-Shater |first=Ehsan |title=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=978-0-933273-81-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RhQZAQAAIAAJ 7–8]}}</ref>

==== Greece ====
{{See also|Ancient Greek harps|Aegean civilization}}
[[File:Marble seated harp player MET gr47.100.1.R.jpg|thumb|[[Marble]] seated harp player, [[Cycladic culture|Cycladic civilization]], Greece, {{nobr|2800-2700 BCE}}|241x241px]]
Marble sculptures of seated figures playing harps are known from the [[Cycladic civilization]] dating from {{nobr|2800-2700 BCE.}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/254587 |website=The Metropolitan Museum |title=Marble seated harp player}}</ref>

==== South Asia ====
{{See also|Yazh|Ancient veena}}
[[Mesolithic]] era paintings from [[Bhimbetka rock shelters|Bhimbetka]] show harp playing. An [[arched harp]] made of wooden brackets and metal strings is depicted on an [[Indus Valley civilisation|Indus seal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Varadpande |first=Manohar Laxman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyxOHOCVcVkC&q=Varadpande |title=History of Indian Theatre |date=1987 |publisher=Abhinav Publications |isbn=9788170172215 |pages=14, 55, plate&nbsp;18 |language=en}}</ref> The works of the Tamil [[Sangam literature]] describe the harp and its variants, as early as {{nobr|200 BCE.}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vipulananda |year=1941 |title=The harps of ancient Tamil-land and the twenty-two srutis of Indian musical theory |url=http://www.southasiaarchive.com/Content/sarf.120137/211446/003 |journal=Calcutta Review |volume=LXXXI |issue=3}}</ref> Variants were described ranging from 14 to 17&nbsp;strings, and the instrument used by wandering minstrels for accompaniment.<ref name="Zvelebil1992">{{Cite book |last=Zvelebil |first=Kamil |title=Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature |date=1992 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-09365-6 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC&pg=PA145 145ff]}}</ref> Iconographic evidence of the yaal appears in temple statues dated as early as {{nobr|600 BCE.}}<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Gershon |first2=Livia |title=Listen to the First Song Ever Recorded on This Ancient, Harp-Like Instrument |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/hear-sound-ancient-indian-instrument-180977426/ |access-date=28 September 2021 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> One of the Sangam works, the ''Kallaadam'' recounts how the first ''yaaḻ'' harp was inspired by an archer's bow, when he heard the musical sound of its twang.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}

Another early South Asian harp was the [[ancient veena]], not to be confused with the modern Indian [[veena]] which is a type of lute. Some Samudragupta gold coins show of the {{nobr|mid-4th century {{sc|CE}}}} show (presumably) the king [[Samudragupta]] himself playing the instrument.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVNmAAAAMAAJ |title=The Journal of the Numismatic Society of India |date=2006 |publisher=Numismatic Society of India |pages=73–75}}{{full citation needed|date=June 2020|reason=article title; author; volume, issue}}</ref> The ancient veena survives today in Burma, in the form of the ''[[saung]]'' harp still played there.<ref name="Goyala1992">{{Cite book |last=Śrīrāma Goyala |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DkVuAAAAMAAJ |title=Reappraising Gupta History: For S.R. Goyal |date=1 August 1992 |publisher=Aditya Prakashan |isbn=978-81-85179-78-0 |page=237 |quote=...&nbsp;yazh resembles this old vina ... however it is the Burmese harp which seems to have been handed down in almost unchanged form since ancient times}}</ref>

==== East Asia ====
{{Main|Konghou}}
The harp was popular in ancient China and neighboring regions, though harps are largely extinct in East Asia in the modern day. The Chinese ''[[konghou]]'' harp is documented as early as the [[Spring and Autumn period]] {{nobr|(770–476 BCE),}} and became extinct during the [[Ming dynasty]] {{nobr|(1368–1644 {{sc|CE}}).}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Konghou |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/konghou |access-date=2 October 2018 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=web}}</ref> A similar harp, the ''[[Gonghu]]'' was played in ancient Korea, documented as early as the [[Goguryeo]] period {{nobr|(37 BCE – 686 {{sc|CE}}).}}<ref name=YunRichards2005>{{cite book |last1=Yun |first1=Hu-myŏng |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRwaAQAAIAAJ |title=The love of Dunhuang |last2=Richards |first2=Kyungnyun K. |last3=Richards |first3=Steffen F. |date=2005 |publisher=Cross-Cultural Communications |isbn=978-0-89304-737-5}}</ref>