Lyre

A lyre is an ancient stringed instrument with strings stretched between a soundbox and two projecting arms joined by a crossbar. Its strings are plucked, often to accompany singing.

Soundbox: A hollow chamber that amplifies an instrument’s sound by vibrating with its strings or other sound source. The lyre’s soundbox anchors the strings and reinforces their vibrations.
Ancient Greek music: The musical practices, instruments, and traditions of the ancient Greek world. The lyre was central to Greek performance, education, and poetic tradition.
Lyric poetry: Poetry traditionally composed for musical accompaniment or expressing a speaker’s personal voice. The genre’s name and early practice are closely associated with singing to a lyre.
Kithara: A large ancient Greek stringed instrument with a substantial wooden frame, used mainly by professional performers. The kithara is a more robust Greek relative, unlike the typically lighter lyre.
String instrument: A musical instrument that produces sound through vibrating strings. The lyre belongs to this broad family of instruments.
Sumerian lyre: A lyre made in ancient Sumer, including instruments recovered from royal tombs at Ur. The instruments from Ur provide some of the earliest surviving evidence for lyres.
Homeric poetry: The ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, especially the Iliad and the Odyssey. Lyre-like instruments accompanied performances of epic poetry in Greek tradition.
Barbiton: An ancient Greek lyre variant with long arms and a relatively low pitch range. Its elongated form shows the diversity of instruments within the lyre family.
Plucked string instrument: A string instrument whose strings are set vibrating by plucking. Plucking is the characteristic way lyre strings are sounded.
Royal Cemetery of Ur: A group of elite Sumerian burials excavated at Ur, containing rich grave goods and musical instruments. Its excavations uncovered decorated lyres that illuminate early instrument design.

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