The Lyre In Other Parts of Europe

Naturally, because the Greco-Roman world was so proficient, and widely spread in trade and in culture the lyre was known by many cultures, so that the instrument spread and was adapted into variations. So it wasn’t just the ancient Greeks and Romans who played the lyre, because other instruments were played, and called lyres, since at least the early Middle Ages. Other experts believe that since there is no clear evidence that these other lyres were played exclusively with plectra, –like a guitar pick, –and that there are many other styles of lyres from the ancient eras, and emerging instruments with the same name, that are played with a bow.

Though the Greco-Roman lyre was surely known by many, historical music experts assert that the lyre emerged in other cultures on its own, thousands of years ago, by cultures such as the Celtic, Gallic, Scandinavian, and Teutonic, –or basically what we know as Scottish, Irish, British, and the Germanic, Norse, i.e., Viking cultures. The oldest known fragments of the lyre discovered are from around the sixth century of the “Common Era”. Bowing spread throughout Europe for two centuries, until smaller versions of the lyre were adapted, and constructed, –making the act of bowing a little less ridiculous.

There were two basic types of lyre outside the Greco-Roman style, which were used all over Europe; those with fingerboards, which divided the open space within the yoke (the u shape), and those without fingerboards. The last well known example of bowed yoke lyres were those employed by the Welsh, from 1485 to 1800. These mostly resembled the violin, are became the model from which the modern violin was built, –although it should not be confused as the “origin” of the violin, since it is a separate instrument, that began being made many years earlier than the 19th century.