The Lyre (photo) (audio)

Sumerians made the first prototype of the lyre. Standing at three and a half feet, the lyre was considered big. The lyre was not bowed in the modern sense in that the strings, which ran from a yoke to a bridge (which holds up the strings from the fingerboard). Within time, the lyre became smaller and more transportable.

By the time of the ancient Greeks, two different types of lyres: the lyra and the cithara. The

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strings of a cithara were usually made out of gut or catgut which are usually made from cow or sheep gut. The

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cithara was a hollow box made of wood. Sometimes a piece of metal would be attached to applify the sound of the instrument.

The lyra had a turtle-like shell as its body. Curved arms reached out from the body to hold the strings, serving a similar purpose of a bridge in most modern classical stringed instruments. While the cithara was usually played by professionals the lyra was considered more amateurish and thus was often associated with drinking and love songs. The lyra fell out of use during the Renaissance and its descendant, the lute became more popular.