The great lyre is one of the greatest treasures of the royal tombs of ur from ancient mesopotamia. In classical greek, the word lyre could either refer specifically to an amateur instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional cithara and easternaegean barbiton, or lyre can refer generally to all three instruments as a. The lyre an instrument for our time the lyre has been an important instrument since ancient times, in persia, egypt, greece, and italy. Portions of the tablet were composed from three clay fragments in the british museum. They have evolved somewhat, but the sensual style of playing on this instrument continues to draw in. This instrument is meant to be a powerful tool, with which, through games, playing together and listening, the child can learn music in its fullest meaning. And now, after the looting of the baghdad museum in april 2003, the golden lyre of ur is not even displayable, as it lies in broken pieces. The modern lyre was first created in the 1920s, by edmund pracht and lothar gartner, after indications from. An ancient name for the lyre ucla program in indoeuropean. It is made of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, bitumen, and wood.
Mesopotamian, greek, and chinese cultures, documenting their use of the harp. They all seem to be calmer instruments from what i learned i think the music must be nice relaxing music. The earliest reference to the word is the mycenaean greek ruratae, meaning lyrists and written in the linear b script. See more ideas about musical instruments, instruments and musicals. The lyre with its quiet and bright sound it stimulates listening in a unique way and so creates the necessary conditions for the child to meet and conquer music. University of pennsylvania museum of archaeology and anthropology, philadelphia 150888. The lyre of mesopotamia is a reconstruction of the sample found by sir leonard wooley from the sumerian city of ur which dates back to 4700 years ago. They were played in an upright position with the strings plucked. The strings run from a tailpiece on the bottom or front of the instrument to the crossbar. Instruments of ancient mesopotamia include harps, lyres, lutes, reed pipes, and drums.
It also provides us with a glimpse of the way the ancient mesopotamians viewed the world, thanks to the outstanding iconography present on the musical instrument. Pages in category early musical instruments the following 128 pages are in this category, out of 128 total. Wood with shell inlaid in bitumen, x 412 33 x 11 cm. The bagana is a tenstringed box lyre of the amhara of ethiopia. Found in a royal tomb excavated at ur presentday muquaiyir, iraq. Art history lab mesopotamia bull lyre brian wildeman bull lyre c. In both the mesopotamian and nile valleys, music is older than in israel. The front panel, partially under the beard, shows a nearly nude bearded male figure holding two rearing humanheaded bulls in the top section, and below are three ritualistic scenes from a funeral banquet. All the lyres that woolley excavated at ur lacked sound holes on the front, back, side or top surfaces. Music and instruments of mesopotamia by jessica mohrlang on prezi. Lyre instrument for kontakt vstauaax samples overview the lyre is a ancient greek harp dating back to ancient mesopotamia 2500bc. Introduction among the most famous artefacts from early dynastic mesopotamia are the stringed musical instruments decorated with bulls heads which were.
Jun 06, 20 the story of this instrument is a bit long and complicated, so i put a page on my website describing exactly what it is and how it was made. The imagery used in the lyre represent significant parts of early mesopotamian funerary rituals. A plaster cast was made of the impression left by the wood. A drawing is shown at the left, with lines 145150 of chapter viii of the poem highlighted. Ancient lyre is a crossword puzzle clue that we have spotted 3 times. The original text from the epic of gilgamesh that contains the reference to a flute of carnelian comes from the last 5 lines of column 3 of the front of a cuneiform tablet. These were made to resemble bulls, with the sound box of the instrument forming the abstract body and with an attached protome in the. Jun 30, 2018 this means that the bulls lyre, aka the golden lyre of ur, is one of the oldest string instruments in the world.
The depictions that are applied with great skill and detail tell us again of the awareness of the dimensional reality. Michael levy composer for lyre the ancient egyptian. The musical instruments from ur and ancient mesopotamian music. Three, originally, but later as many as 12 strings ran from the crossbar to the lower end of the instrument, passing over a bridge on the soundboard. In illustrations of lyre players from ancient mesopotamia, details of a relief from sw palace of sennacherib at nineveh, ca. Dec 18, 2016 with the support of some researchers, he performs mesopotamian poetry accompanied by the sound of the lyre. Kithara, stringed musical instrument, one of the two principal types of ancient greek lyres. Shamash is the divine judge who shines light on all things.
The story of this instrument is a bit long and complicated, so i put a page on my website describing exactly what it is and how it was made. Box lyres are instruments having a boxlike wooden body with a wooden soundboard. The bearded bull on the front represents the sun god shamash, depicted in cuneiform texts as the golden bull with lapis lazuli beard. Contemporary east african lyres and west african lutes preserve many. It was closely related to the other stringed instruments. Paraliturgical and solo instrument played only for religious and meditative purposes, it often creates immedi ate and intense. Its design was developed from the harp by replacing the single bow shape with two upright arms joined by a crossbar, and the strings, instead of joining the sound box directly, were made to run over a bridge attached to the box. The lyres of ur or harps of ur are considered to be the worlds second oldest surviving stringed. Tile mediumsized silver bovine lyre now in the british. Three, originally, but later as many as 12 strings ran from the crossbar to the. Hebrew kinnor string instrument, harp, lyre and to corresponding words in.
The lyre an instrument for our time lyre association. Lyre, stringed musical instrument having a yoke, or two arms and a crossbar, projecting out from and level with the body. Another instruments were the angular harp or the trumpet line sneb, used in processions. This instrument is meant to be a powerful tool, with which, through games, playing together and listening, the child can learn music in. Ktaros is of greek origin, indicating a stringed instrument a cithara or lyre. Panel from the sound box of a lyre closer look panel. Oct 03, 2017 the lyre of mesopotamia is a reconstruction of the sample found by sir leonard wooley from the sumerian city of ur which dates back to 4700 years ago. Pdf mesopotamian early dynastic bulllyres renate marian van. The musical instruments in mesopotamia were harp, reed pipe, drums, lyre, and the lute. Many of these were shared with neighbouring cultures. Its soundbox is usually in the shape of a realistic reclining or standing bovine. Bask in the beauty and melody of the ancient mesopotamian.
From egypt came also the first hydraulic organ known, which works with water. Cuneiform sources reveal an orderly organized system of diatonic scales, depending on the tuning of stringed instruments in alternating fifths and fourths. If the project was to be successful, then it was necessary to obtain these natural materials also. The lyre was invented by the sumerians of ancient iraq around 3200 bce. Most string names simply describe their position and are rather mundane. Highquality professional reproduction of ancient egyptian box lyre, made from a mixture of authentic and substitute materials, aproximate size.
Stef, mark and andy formed the lyre ensemble because they shared a passion for the rich and fascinating corpus of mesopotamian literature, as well as a desire to make music using reconstructions of beautiful ancient instruments. The bovine lyre was the most common stringed instrument of the mid3rd millennium bc in the near east. An aramaic name suggests a sevenstringed instrument. Up until andy lowings, a harp enthusiast from england, felt a calling to recreate the golden lyre of ur using all the materials used all those thousands of years ago, the instrument was unplayable.
They had dancers dance while they played the music kind of like a ballet but with live music and the dancers used clappers. Amongst the most famous artefacts of early dynastic mesopotamia are the lyres excavated in the royal tombs at ur. Like the silver lyre, the front of the gold lyre had an intricate decoration of carved and etched shell inlay, and one of its four panels shows a donkey playing a bullheaded lyre. This is a critical text, because it provides the names of nine strings of a musical instrument presumed to be the lyre and is a key for understanding the other musical texts michalowski 2010, page 210. Harp and lyre in one corner of the pit human bodies were laid out. Engage your students during remote learning with video readalouds.
The cretan lyra is considered to be the most popular surviving form of the medieval byzantine lyra, an ancestor of most european bowed instruments. The tradition of playing on lyres has survived until today. This was the tortoiseshell lyre, a lighter, more simply built instrument whose shape essentially follows that of the box lyre. The project was spearheaded by andy lowings, a man who put his mind to doing something amazing and set out to do it.
It had a wooden soundboard and a boxshaped body, or resonator, from which extended two hollow arms connected by a crossbar. The myceneans inherited the minoan box lyre, but before the collapse of their civilization a new variant on it had been developed. Music and instruments of mesopotamia by jessica mohrlang. This elaborate musical instrument is perhaps the most valuable treasure from the royal tombs of ur. The gold lyre of ur is covered in some 5,000 individual pieces of cut pink local limestone, lapis lazuli and motherofpearl shell. Ktaros is of greek origin, indicating a stringed instrumenta cithara or lyre. Like their names suggest the box lyres have a boxlike body and the bowl lyres have a round body with a curved back. They discovered pieces of three lyres and one harp in ur, located in what was ancient mesopotamia and is. In western culture, the harp was an important transmitter of oral history.
While a certain amount of license has to be given to the artist, the instrument the donkey is playing clearly has a wide, flat, benchshaped bridge, similar to the. The bagana is a tenstringed boxlyre of the amhara of ethiopia. No other instrument is mentioned in connection with tabernacle worship. Though israel was charged in certain matters not to become like their predecessors leviticus 18. Chapter 2 mesopotamia and persia ap art history with. Egyptians adopted the musical instruments of the mesopotamian civilizations, but also improved other instruments like the sistrum of isis, which was a primitive wooden instrument. Much of the instrument had been made of wood which had disintegrated in the soil.
A year ago, i discovered and wrote about the golden lyre of ur project, a multinational effort to recreate the 4,750yearold instrument from scratch, just as the ancient mesopotamians did the project was spearheaded by andy lowings, a man who put his mind to doing something amazing and set out to do it. See more ideas about ancient mesopotamia, ancient civilizations and epic of gilgamesh. In 1929 a team of archeologists led by leonard woolley discovered fragments of lyres and a harp in what used to be the ancient city of ur abraham, now contemporary iraq. This also includes the code of hammurabi and the epics of gilgamesh. They have evolved somewhat, but the sensual style of playing on this instrument continues to draw in both musicians and music lovers. Sabbeka kjv sackbut sabbeka has no convincing etymology. Ivanov one of the most amazing lexical insights of hrozny.
The earliest depiction of the a seven string lyre was found in a sarcophagus in crete 1400bc. Harp plans from the folk harp journal this cd contains over 25 scale drawings of harp plans plus 50 articles on harp making hints from the first 100 issues of the folk harp journal from 1973 to 1998 scanned and compiled by musicmakers kits, inc. Reconstructing the sound and style of ancient mesopotamia. The ancient egyptian arched harp has a history dating back over 5000 years. A year ago, i discovered and wrote about the golden lyre of ur project, a multinational effort to recreate the 4,750yearold instrument from scratch, just as the ancient mesopotamians did. Dec 16, 2012 the lyre was a stringed musical instrument played by the ancient greeks and was probably the most important and wellknown instrument in the greek world. A likely word for the small mesopotamian lyre type a is zamin.
The lyre on the photos above is roughly 4500 years old and exhibited in the penn museum, philadelphia usa. Tuning procedures in ancient iraq sam mirelman he discovery, from the 1960s until the present, of a small corpus of about twenty texts concerning strings, tuning, and performance from ancient iraq loosely equivalent to mesopotamia and syria has transformed our view of the earliest stages of music history. The sumerians invented the lyre and sometimes adorned them with animal heads denoting their pitch. The lyre was a stringed musical instrument played by the ancient greeks and was probably the most important and wellknown instrument in the greek world. A lyre is a musical instrument that is stringed and has a role projecting from the body. Brian wildemans art history lab mesopotamia bull lyre. With the support of some researchers, he performs mesopotamian poetry accompanied by the sound of the lyre. Kithara, roman cithara, stringed musical instrument, one of the two principal types of ancient greek lyres. These were fixed onto the body using bitumen from the hitt region. Mar 15, 2019 the ancient civilizations that arose out of the fertile crescent.
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