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from animal horns or ivory, but the usual material will have been wood.35 They were held fast against the upper rim of the shell by being jammed under one of the cane spars, which in the case of one of the Argive lyres (sixth-fifth century) formed two arches intersecting at right angles and oriented on the major and minor axes of the shell's ellipse.36 Strings were of twisted sheep's gut, of sinew, or perhaps sometimes of flax.37 |
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The lyra is not seen in any Minoan or Mycenaean representations so far known. Fragments of drilled tortoise shell found at a Late Bronze Age site on Melos have been interpreted as lyra remnants, though other explanations are possible.38 Artistic representations appear from about the end of the eighth century onward and become frequent from the sixth.39 The lyra appears in many contexts: dances, sacrifices, processions, symposia; domestic, school, and mythological scenes. Apollo or the Muses sometimes have it instead of the kithara. It may be played by men, women, or children. It is the ordinary instrument of the non-professional. |
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The barbitos differs from the normal lyra most obviously in the form of its arms. They are distinctly longer, and instead of having a gentle regular inward curve they are straight as they rise from the soundbox, diverging, until at a certain distance they bend decisively towards each other (and forward, as appears from a side view on one vase40) and then turn upwards again at a sharp right angle, the last sections being parallel and carrying the crossbar. The length of its strings would indicate that the barbitos had a deeper pitch and a |
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(Footnote continued from previous page) |
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P. Phaklaris,  32 (1977), 218-33; Maas-Snyder, 94. Paus. 8. 54. 7 says that tortoises very suitable for lyres lived on Mt. Parthenion in the Argolid, but were deemed sacred to Pan and jealously guarded by the locals. |
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35 Philostr. Imag. 1. 10. 1-2 describes Hermes making them from goat-horns. See also below, p. 59, on the phoinix. Ivory: PMG 900, IG 13. 343. 29, 22. 1388. 80 (ivory lyres for festival use), cf. Philostr. loc. cit. A gilt lyre, IG 13. 343. 29. The Elgin lyre in the British Museum had arms of sycamore. Unspecified wooden parts of the lyre are mentioned by Pl. Phd. 86 b, Philostr. loc. cit. (box-wood). Theophr. Hist. Pl. 5. 7. 6 says that holm-oak is good for the crosspieces of lyres and harps. |
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36 Soph. fr. 36 implies that without its cane a lyre collapses. See Roberts (as n. 34), 308f.; Courbin (as n. 34). 96 ff. |
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37 H. Abert, RE iA. 1762; Hägg (as n. 33), 59. On technicalities of manufacture see further P. Phaklaris (as n. 34); P. Courbin (as n. 34); H. D. Roberts (as n. 34), 303-12; Paquette, 145-71, A. Bélis, BCH 109 (1985), 201-20; Maas-Snyder, 94-8. |
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38 C. Renfrew, The Archaeology of Cult: The Sanctuary at Phylakopi (London, 1985), 325f.; alternative explanations in Hägg (as n. 33), 63 n. 102. The Egyptians made soundboxes for lutes out of small tortoise shells (Hägg, 55 with literature). |
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39 See Pl. 18; Paquette, 145 ff.; Maas-Snyder, 36-9, 48-52, 81-94, 100-12, 178-80, 194. |
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40 Brussels A 3091; Maas-Snyder, 125 and 138 fig. 22. |
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