Byzantine Lyra

The Byzantine lyra or lira (Greek: λύρα, Latin: lira) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine Empire and is an ancestor of most European bowed instruments, including the violin. In its popular form the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails. Remains of two actual examples of Byzantine lyras from the Middle ages have been found in excavations at Novgorod; one dated to 1190 AD. The first known depiction of the instrument is on a Byzantine ivory casket (900-1100 AD), preserved in the Palazzo del Podesta in Florence (Museo Nazionale, Florence, Coll. Carrand, No.26). Versions of the Byzantine lyra are still played not only in Greece, but in the Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Monte Negro, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Turkey too; Another one notable example is the island of Crete, where the lyra is central to the traditional music of the island.