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byzantine lyra wikipedia jump to content main menu main menu move to sidebar hide navigation main page contents current events random article about wikipedia contact us contribute help learn to edit community portal recent changes upload file special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 history 2 terminology 3 characteristics 4 in use today 5 gallery 6 references 7 bibliography toggle the table of contents byzantine lyra 11 languages башҡортса català ελληνικά español עברית italiano қазақша македонски português русский українська edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia medieval string instrument this article includes a list of general references but lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations september 2026 learn how and when to remove this message byzantine lyra oldest known depiction of the byzantine lyra c 900 1100 1 string instrument other names byzantine lyra lira lūrā rum kemençe medieval fiddle pear shaped rebec hornbostel sachs classification 321 321 71 necked bowl lute sounded by a bow developed 9th century related instruments classical lyra greek πολίτικη λύρα pandura kemenche cello lijerica lira calabrian italian lira calabrese lira da braccio lyra cretan greek λύρα lyre terminology fiddle gadulka bulgarian гъдулка gusle gudok russian гудок ukrainian гудок rabāb arabic الرباب violin the byzantine lyra or lira greek λύρα was a medieval bowed string instrument from the byzantine empire in its popular form the lyra was a pear shaped instrument with three to five strings held upright and played by stopping the strings from the side with the fingertips and fingernails the oldest known depiction of the instrument is on a byzantine ivory casket dated to circa 900 1100 it is preserved in the museo nazionale del bargello in italy 1 modern variants of the lyra are still played throughout the balkans and in areas surrounding the black sea and most of the historical territories of the byzantine empire including greece crete cretan lyra karpathos karpathian lyra albania montenegro serbia bulgaria the gadulka north macedonia croatia dalmatian lijerica italy the calabrian lira turkey the politiki lyra and armenia citation needed history edit the most likely origin of the byzantine lyra is with the long necked pear shaped pandura a lute like plucked stringed instrument however with the use of a bow changes to the size and construction of the instrument was made the first recorded reference to a bowed lyra is from the 9th century by persian geographer ibn khurradadhbih d 911 in his lexicographical discussion of instruments he cites the lyra lūrā as the typical instrument of the byzantines along with the urghun organ shilyani probably a type of harp or lyre and the salandj probably a bagpipe 2 the lyra is widely considered to be the ancestor of many modern european bowed instruments 3 the lyra spread widely via byzantine trade routes between eurasia and africa european writers in the 11th and 12th centuries used the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when colloquially referring to bowed instruments 3 the middle eastern rabāb was probably inspired by early south asian lap fiddles like the indo nepalese sarangi before later arriving in western europe likely through continued arab presence in the iberian peninsula both instruments spread further throughout the continent birthing many bowed fiddles across europe such as the medieval rebec the swedish silverbasharpa and eventual nyckelharpa and the scando icelandic talharpa among others a notable example is the italian lira da braccio 3 a 15th century bowed string instrument that many consider to be the predecessor of the contemporary violin 4 terminology edit from the organological point of view the byzantine lyra is in fact an instrument belonging to the family of bowed lutes however the designation lyra greek λύρα lūrā english lyre constitute of a terminological survival relating to the performing method of an ancient greek instrument the use of the term lyra for a bowed instrument was first recorded in the 9th century probably as an application of the term lyre of the stringed musical instrument of classical antiquity to the new bowed string instrument the byzantine lyra is sometimes informally called a medieval fiddle or a pear shaped rebec or a kemanche terms that may be used today to refer to a general category of similar stringed instruments played with a horsehair bow characteristics edit the byzantine lyra had rear tuning pegs set in a flat peg similarly to the medieval fiddle and unlike the rabāb and rebec however the strings were touched by the nails laterally and not pressed from above with the flesh of the finger such as in the violin the lyra depicted on the byzantine ivory casket of museo nazionale florence 900 1100 ad has two strings and pear shaped body with long and narrow neck the soundboard is depicted without soundholes and as a distinct and attached piece however this might be due to stylistic abstraction the lyras of novgorod 1190 ad are closer morphologically to the present bowed lyras see gallery they were pear shaped and 40 cm long they had semi circular soundholes and provision for three strings 5 the middle string served as a drone while fingering the others by finger or fingernail alone downwards or sidewards against the string for there was no fingerboard to press them against a method which gives the notes as clearly as the violin and remains normal in lyras both in asia as well as on present bowed instruments in post byzantine regions such as the cretan lyra 5 in use today edit the lyra of the byzantine empire survives in many post byzantine regions until the present day even closely to its archetype form examples are the politiki lyra i e lyra of the polis or city referring to constantinople greek πολίτικη λύρα also known as the classical kemence turkish klasik kemençe or armudî kemençe from constantinople used in today s turkey and greece the cretan lyra greek κρητική λύρα and the one used in the greek islands of the dodecanese the gadulka bulgarian гъдулка in bulgaria the gusle in serbia and montenegro the calabrian lira italian lira calabrese in italy and the pontic lyra greek ποντιακή λύρα turkish karadeniz kemençe in the pontic greek communities that existed or still exist around the shores of the black sea the gudok a historical russian instrument that survived until the 19th century is also a variant of the byzantine lyra similarly to the lyras found at novgorod the cretan lyra the gadulka the calabrian lira and the greek lyras of karpathos macedonia thrace and mount olympus are manufactured from a single wood block monoblock sculpted into a pear shaped body the slightly rounded body of the lyra is prolonged by a neck ending on the top in a block which is also pear shaped or spherical in that are set the pegs facing and extending forward the soundboard is also carved with a shallower arch and has two small semi circular d shaped soundholes the cretan lyra is probably the most widely used surviving form of the byzantine lyra except that in crete instrument making has been influenced by that of the violin currently numerous models tend to integrate the shape of the scroll the finger board and other morphology of some secondary characteristics of the violin the modern variants of the lyra are tuned in various ways la re sol or a d g i e by fifths on the cretan lyra la re sol or a d g where sol g is a perfect fourth higher than re d rather than a fifth lower in thrace and on karpathos and the dodecanese la la mi a a e with the second la a an octave lower in drama mi sol mi e g e i e a minor third and a major sixth on the gadulka la re la a d a a fifth and a fourth on the classical kemenche clarification needed gallery edit bulgarian gadulka cretan lyra calabrian lira a lijerica from dalmatia different types of cretan lyra in the museum of greek folk instruments in athens references edit 1 2 butler 2003 kartomi 1990 p 124 1 2 3 encyclopædia britannica 2009 arkenberg 2002 1 2 baines 1992 p 109 bibliography edit arkenberg rebecca october 2002 renaissance violins metropolitan museum of art retrieved 22 september 2006 baines anthony november 1992 the oxford companion to musical instruments oxford university press isbn 0 19 311334 1 butler paul october 2003 the rebec project personal website retrieved 10 march 2009 encyclopædia britannica 2009 lira encyclopædia britannica online retrieved 20 february 2009 kartomi margaret j 1990 on concepts and classifications of musical instruments university of chicago press isbn 0 226 42548 7 grillet laurent 1901 les ancetres du violon v 1 paris v t e byzantine music list of composers composers romanos the melodist andrew of crete john of damascus cosmas of maiuma stephen the sabaite theodore the studite theophanes the branded kassia joseph the hymnographer joseph the confessor leo vi the wise constantine vii joannes glykys nikephoros ethikos gregorios glykys john koukouzeles xenos korones john kladas john laskaris manuel chrysaphes janus plousiadenos theorists michael psellos george pachymeres manuel bryennios liturgy paschal troparion octoechos forms aposticha canon cherubikon byzantine rite kathisma koinonikon kontakion akathist troparion sticheron theory petasti 72 equal temperament byzantine musical symbols echos octoechos nenano neobyzantine octoechos hagiopolitan octoechos papadic octoechos nana echos ison instruments byzantine lyra cretan lyra thaboura organon scholars enrica follieri solon hadjisolomos peter jeffery kenneth levy oliver strunk miloš velimirović egon wellesz performers greek byzantine choir nikodimos kabarnos iakovos nafpliotis konstantinos pringos thrasyvoulos stanitsas related akolouthiai protopsaltes cappella romana monastery of stoudios museum of ancient greek byzantine and post byzantine musical instruments only begotten son school of ecclesiastic music also music theorist category v t e greek musical instruments ancient string pandura lyre barbiton chelys kithara phorminx harp epigonion magadis sambuca trigonon wind aulos pan flute salpinx water organ percussion cochilia crotalum sistrum medieval byzantine lyra organon modern string bowed cretan lyra pontic lyra politiki lyra macedonian lyra calabrian lira plucked bouzouki guitar laouto mandola mandolin oudola psaltery tambouras thaboura struck santouri wind askomandoura gaida tsampouna floghera karamuza lalitsa mantura souravli percussion membranophones tambourine toubeleki tympano idiophones koudounia stamna trigono zilia see also music of greece greek folk music byzantine music nisiotika greek dances retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title byzantine_lyra oldid 1374286540 categories bowed string instruments byzantine music early musical instruments european musical instruments greek musical instruments hidden categories articles with short description short description is different from wikidata articles lacking in text citations from september 2026 all articles lacking in text citations use dmy dates from july 2014 articles containing greek language text articles containing italian language text articles containing bulgarian language text articles containing russian language text articles containing ukrainian language text articles containing arabic language text all articles with unsourced statements articles with unsourced statements from august 2019 wikipedia articles needing clarification from september 2011 this page was last edited on 11 september 2026 at 01 42 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia legal safety contacts code of conduct developers statistics cookie statement mobile view search search toggle the table of contents byzantine lyra 11 languages add topic