The Byzantine lyra or lira (Greek: λύρα) was a musical instrument used during the medieval period in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The common version of the lyra had a pear-like shape and three to five strings. It was held upright and played by pressing the strings from the side using the fingertips and fingernails. The earliest known image of the lyra is found on a Byzantine ivory casket, dated to about 900–1100 AD, which is kept in the Bargello in Florence (Museo Nazionale, Florence, Coll. Carrand, No.26). Today, modern versions of the lyra are still played in many regions, including the Balkans and areas near the Black Sea. These regions include Greece (Cretan lyra, Karpathian lyra), Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria (gadulka), North Macedonia, Croatia (Dalmatian lijerica), Italy (Calabrian lira), Turkey (politiki lyra and Pontic lyra or kemençe), and Armenia.
History
The Byzantine lyra likely came from the pandura, a stringed instrument with a long neck and pear shape, similar to the bouzouki. Over time, the lyra was changed in size and design to be played with a bow. The first known mention of a bowed lyra was in the 9th century by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih. In his dictionary-like description of musical instruments, he listed the lyra (lūrā) as the typical instrument of the Byzantines, along with the urghun (organ), shilyani (likely a harp or lyre), and the salandj (likely a bagpipe). The lyra is widely believed to be the ancestor of many modern European bowed instruments.
The lyra spread across Eurasia and Africa through Byzantine trade routes. European writers in the 11th and 12th centuries used the words "fiddle" and "lira" to describe bowed instruments. The Middle Eastern rabāb was likely inspired by early South Asian lap-fiddles, such as the Indo-Nepalese sarangi, before reaching Western Europe, probably through Arab influence in the Iberian Peninsula. These instruments spread across Europe, leading to the creation of many bowed fiddles, including the medieval rebec, the Swedish silverbasharpa (and later nyckelharpa), and the Scando-Icelandic talharpa. A well-known example is the Italian lira da braccio, a 15th-century bowed string instrument considered by many to be the predecessor of the modern violin.
Terminology
From the perspective of musical instrument classification, the Byzantine lyra is a type of bowed lute. However, the name "lyra" (Greek: λύρα ~ lūrā, English: lyre) comes from an older term used for an ancient Greek instrument that was played differently. The word "lyra" was first used in the 9th century to describe a new type of bowed string instrument, likely borrowing the name from the ancient Greek lyre. The Byzantine lyra is sometimes called a medieval fiddle, a pear-shaped rebec, or a kemanche. These terms are modern names that can describe a group of similar stringed instruments that are played with a bow made of horsehair.
Characteristics
The Byzantine lyra had tuning pegs on the back placed in a flat peg, similar to the medieval fiddle, but different from the rabāb and rebec. The strings were touched from the side by nails, not pressed from above with the skin of the finger as in the violin. A lyra shown on a Byzantine ivory casket in the Museo Nazionale, Florence (900–1100 AD), had two strings and a pear-shaped body with a long, narrow neck. The soundboard is shown without soundholes and as a separate piece attached to the body, though this may be because of the artistic style used in the drawing. Lyras from Novgorod (1190 AD) were more similar to modern bowed lyras: they were pear-shaped, 40 cm long, had semi-circular soundholes, and had space for three strings. The middle string acted as a drone, while the other strings were played by finger or fingernail, either downward or sideways against the string. There was no fingerboard to press the strings against, a method that produces notes as clearly as a violin and is still used in lyras in Asia and in post-Byzantine regions like the Cretan lyra.
In use today
The lyra from the Byzantine Empire is still used today in many areas that existed after the empire ended. It remains very similar to its original form. Examples include the Politiki lyra (also called the Classical kemence) from Constantinople, used in modern-day Turkey and Greece. Other examples are the Cretan lyra in Crete, the lyra in the Greek islands of the Dodecanese, the gadulka in Bulgaria, the gusle in Serbia and Montenegro, the Calabrian lira in Italy, and the Pontic lyra in Pontic Greek communities near the Black Sea. The gudok, a Russian instrument that was used until the 19th century, is also a type of Byzantine lyra.
Like the lyras found in Novgorod, the Cretan lyra, the gadulka, the Calabrian lira, and the Greek lyras from Karpathos, Macedonia, Thrace, and Mount Olympus are made from a single piece of wood (called a monoblock) shaped like a pear. The lyra’s body is slightly rounded and extends into a neck that ends in a pear-shaped or round block. Pegs are placed on this block and face forward. The soundboard is carved with a shallow curve and has two small, D-shaped soundholes. The Cretan lyra is the most common surviving version of the Byzantine lyra, though its design has been influenced by the violin in Crete. Today, many versions mix features like the violin’s scroll and fingerboard.
Modern lyra variations are tuned differently: the Cretan lyra uses LA–RE–SOL (or a–d–g, which are notes spaced by fifths). In Thrace and on Karpathos and the Dodecanese, it is tuned to LA–RE–SOL (or a–d–g, where SOL [g] is a perfect fourth higher than RE [d]). In Drama, it is tuned to LA–LA–MI (a–a–e, with the second LA [a] an octave lower). The gadulka uses MI–SOL–MI (e–g–e, which are a minor third and a major sixth apart). The Classical Kemenche is tuned to LA–RE–LA (a–d–a, which are a fifth and a fourth apart).
Gallery
- A Bulgarian musical instrument called a gadulka
- A Cretan musical instrument called a lyra
- A Calabrian musical instrument called a lira
- A lijerica from Dalmatia
- Different types of Cretan lyra can be found in the Museum of Greek Folk Instruments in Athens