lyre

Plucked Greek instrument

A lyre is a stringed musical instrument of ancient Greece and the Near East, with strings stretched between a U-shaped frame and a crossbar.

The player plucked the strings while holding the instrument upright.

The lyre is associated with poetry and song—Orpheus charmed beasts with his lyre, and lyric poetry takes its name from verses originally sung to lyre accompaniment.

construction

strings

Thin flexible lines

tortoiseshellMottled brown-yellow shell material
crossbarHorizontal bar between uprights
soundboxVibration-amplifying cavity

yoke · arms · bridge · gut · tuning · pluck · resonance · wooden · acoustic · chordophone

mythology

Apollo

Sun deity, moonshot namesake

OrpheusLegendary Greek musician
HermesOlympian messenger deity
MusesNine goddesses of arts

Delphi · Olympus · sirens · Argonauts · Cadmus · Thracian · divinity · prophecy · Golden Fleece · Pantheon

performance

recital

Solo musical performance

concertLive musical performance
accompanimentSupplementary support element
melodyPleasing sequence of notes

ensemble · virtuoso · soloist · musicianship · arpeggio · hymn · paean · ceremonial · banquet · libation

ancient

Greece

Balkan peninsula nation

HellenicOf Greek origin
HomericOf grand, ancient verse
antiquityGreat age, ancient era

archaeology · amphora · fresco · mosaic · Sappho · Sophocles · Parnassus · Thrace · symposium · epic

harp

Plucked orchestral strings

psalteryPlucked medieval string instrument
lutePear-bodied fretted strings
zitherFlat stringed instrument, played horizontally

trigon · lyra

poetry

verse

Metered poetic passage

odeLaudatory verse form
museThink deeply about
elegyPoem lamenting the departed

ballad · rhapsody · cadence · stanza · meter · recitation · bard · song · hymn · paean

lyre

strings

Apollo

recital

Greece

harp

verse

lyre

Opposites

Phrases

Categories

Family