. The life of the Greeks and Romans. reeks. Three fundamental types of stringed instruments must bedistinguished—viz. the lyre, the kithara, and the harp. Theyare exemplified by an in-teresting vase-painting in jthe old Pinakothek of jMunich (No. 805), thecentre group of which con-sists of the three Muses, IPolymnia, Kalliope, andErato, playing respectivelyon the three mentionedinstruments—-the lyra, thekithara, and the trigonon(Fig. 236). The inven-tion of the lyre (Xvpa) isascribed, by the myth, to Hermes, who first drew stringsacross the oval hollow of a tortoise-shell, which in this waybec
. The life of the Greeks and Romans. reeks. Three fundamental types of stringed instruments must bedistinguished—viz. the lyre, the kithara, and the harp. Theyare exemplified by an in-teresting vase-painting in jthe old Pinakothek of jMunich (No. 805), thecentre group of which con-sists of the three Muses, IPolymnia, Kalliope, andErato, playing respectivelyon the three mentionedinstruments—-the lyra, thekithara, and the trigonon(Fig. 236). The inven-tion of the lyre (Xvpa) isascribed, by the myth, to Hermes, who first drew stringsacross the oval hollow of a tortoise-shell, which in this waybecame the sounding-box of the instrument. This primitiveform is still in use amongst some of the South Sea popula-tions ; in Greece it was only known traditionally. The remainingevidence, both literary and artistic, refers only to the developedform of the lyre. Iu this not only the back-shell of the tortoise,but also the part covering the animals chest, was used, the wholeforming a closed sounding-box, the natural openings for the. 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-
Size: 1879px × 1330px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondonchapmanandha
