. The life of the Greeks and Romans. 202 THE LYRE. front legs of which, were used for the insertion of the roots of thecurved horns of a goat. Wear their points these were joinedtogether by a transverse piece of wood, called the yoke. Acrossthis frame the strings were drawn, being more than twice aslong as those of the mythical lyre. On the chest part of theshell (for only this flat part could be used for the purpose) wasplaced a bridge, across which the strings were drawn, being atone end tied in knots and fastened to the sounding-board,at the other, either simply wound round the yoke, or fas
. The life of the Greeks and Romans. 202 THE LYRE. front legs of which, were used for the insertion of the roots of thecurved horns of a goat. Wear their points these were joinedtogether by a transverse piece of wood, called the yoke. Acrossthis frame the strings were drawn, being more than twice aslong as those of the mythical lyre. On the chest part of theshell (for only this flat part could be used for the purpose) wasplaced a bridge, across which the strings were drawn, being atone end tied in knots and fastened to the sounding-board,at the other, either simply wound round the yoke, or fastened topegs. Figs. 237, a, b, c, d, e, illustrate a number of lyres, ofwhich c shows most distinctly the entire tortoiseshell. The arms(TCYiyeis) are, in c, d, e, made of goats horns, which, as we shallsee in speaking of weapons, were also used for bows ; in a and bthey consist of wood. In e the construction of the sounding-. Fig. 237. board is somewhat difficult to understand, showing as it does alarge round opening in the centre. Equally difficult is theclassification of the instrument in Fig. 237, /. Fig. 237, g, showsan instrument nearly related to the lyre. From the sounding-box, consisting of a small tortoiseshell, two wooden arms issuein divergent directions ; towards their upper ends they approacheach other, and are joined together by a yoke. In vase-paintingthis instrument appears generally in the hands of either Alkaiosor Sappho, from which circumstance archaeologists have (notwithout good reason) conjectured it to be the barbiton (fiapf3iTov,l^apv/uLLTov)) a low-toned instrument, which Terpander is said tohave introduced from Lydia into Greece. The ttyjktU andfievyabis, both of Lydian origin, may also have been of the natureof lyres. Both expressions are applied by Greek authors pro- THE KITHARA. 203 miscuously to one and the same, and to different Greece Sappho is said to have pl
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