Greek Instruments

The Greeks were especially fond of stringed instruments, which were not fretted or played with a bow. A number of varieties were grouped under the general term of Lyre, all developments from the original construction of a tortoise shell with two branching horns, having also a cross piece to which the strings were attached. The strings varied in number from an original three to ten or even more, in the later period. Lyres were carried strapped over the right shoulder, and were played either by the fingers or by a plectrum.

The Cithara was an important variety of the lyre, more heavily built than the ordinary forms, however, and with wooden sides. Teh Trigon, or three cornered instrument which took the place of the harp, and the Magadis, of which the strings were so divided that the upper part of them sounded an octave lower than the lower part, were later forms. From the latter instrument came the term to "magadize," or to sing with the voices an octave apart.

Wind instruments were the Aulos, or long flute, the small single and double flutes, and the Syrinx, or Pan's pipe, the last named a mouth organ consisting of several reed pipes bound together, each giving a different note of the scale. Percussion instruments were few in number, and of small size, including chiefly forms of tambourines and cymbals; and trumpets were also employed.