Lyre

A lyre

The lyre (from Greek λύρα) is a stringed musical instrument of the harp type. Lyres originated in the Middle East more than four and a half millennia ago.

Quotes

• ... they were dining delightedly, these neighbours and kinsmen of the famous Menelaus, under his tall roof-tree. Of the party one was a minstrel who sang divinely to his lyre. As soon as his preluding chords were heard two clowns danced in among the guests and threw cartwheels upon the hall floor.
  • Thomas Edward Lawrence's translation of Homer's Odyssey, published in The Odyssey. London: Collector's Library. 2004. p. 64. ISBN 1904633374.  (translation 1st published in 1932)

• As instruction in playing the lyre was a basic part of Athenian education, men and women could employ the instrument for simple recreation, the accompaniment of dancing, music in wedding ceremonies, or singing at symposia. The lyre was also employed in contests, and boys are often pictured learning to play the lyre, face-to-face with their instructors. One of the most famous of these representations is the red-figure paining by Douris on a kylix of ca. 470 B.C.E. ...
  The lyre serves an emblematic function in mythological scenes or scenes of death. In the mythological scenes, the lyre may stand as a symbol for Apollo, Hermes, the Muses, Castor and Pollux, Paris, Eros, or youths pursued by Eos; in scenes of death, the lyre perhaps symbolizes the tranquility of Elysium.
  • Thomas J. Mathiesen, Apollo's Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Volume 2 of Publications of the Center for the History of Music Theory and Literature. University of Nebraska Press. 1999. p. 248. ISBN 0803230796. 

• Thus the blest Gods the genial day prolong,
  In feasts ambrosial, and celestial song.
  Apollo tun'd the lyre, the Muses round
  With voice alternate aid the silver sound.
  • Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Iliad, as published in "Book I, lines 772–775". The Iliad of Homer, Translated by Alexander Pope. volume I. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock. 2021. p. 45. ISBN 1666732354.  (Pope's translation was originally published in 6 volumes from 1715 to 1720. The 2021 book published by Wipf & Stock was edited by Steven Shankman.)

See also

• Orpheus

External links

• Media related to Lyres on Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of lyre on Wiktionary
• "Lyre" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). 1911.