School dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities . atin testudo, because it was made of a tor-toise-shell. The lyre had originally three or fourstrings, but after the time of Terpander ofAntissa (about b. c. 650), who is said tohave added three more, it was generallymade with seven. The ancients, however,made use of a variety of lyres ; and aboutthe time of Sappho and Anacreon severalstringed instruments, such as magadls, har- hilon, and others, were used in Greece, andespecially in Lesbos. They had been in-troduced from Asia Minor, and their num-ber of strings far exceeded that of the lyre,fo
School dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities . atin testudo, because it was made of a tor-toise-shell. The lyre had originally three or fourstrings, but after the time of Terpander ofAntissa (about b. c. 650), who is said tohave added three more, it was generallymade with seven. The ancients, however,made use of a variety of lyres ; and aboutthe time of Sappho and Anacreon severalstringed instruments, such as magadls, har- hilon, and others, were used in Greece, andespecially in Lesbos. They had been in-troduced from Asia Minor, and their num-ber of strings far exceeded that of the lyre,for we know that some had even twentystrings, so that they must have more resem-bled a modern harp than a lyre. But the lyra and cithara had in most casesno more than seven strings. The lyre had agreat and full-sounding bottom, which con-tinued as before to be made generally oftortoise-shell, from which the horns rose asfrom the head of a stag. A transverse pieceof wood connecting the two horns at or neartheir top-ends served to fasten the strings,. and was called ^^701, and in Latin trans-tillum. The horns were called Tr-ffx^^s orcornua. These instruments were oftenadorned in the most costly manner withgold and ivory. The lyre was consideredas a more manly instrument than thecithara, which, on account of its smaller-sounding bottom, excluded full-sounding MAGISTRATUS. and deep tones, and was more calculated for the middle tones. The lyre whenplayed stood in an upright position betweentlie knees, while the cithara stood upon theknees of the player. Both instrumentswere held with the left hand, and playedwith the right. It has generally been sup-])<)sed that the strings of these instrumentsI were always touched with a little staff calledplectrum (TrArjKTpou), but among the paint-ings discovered at Herculaneum we findseveral instances where the persons play thelyre with their fingers. The lyre was atall times only played as an accompanimentto songs. The Latin name fides, which w
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectclassicaldictionarie
