The history of lyre: Comparison of the lyres used in ancient near Eastern and Greek civilizations

SUMMARYHelvacı, Zeynep. The History of Lyre: Comparison of the Lyres Used in AncientNear Eastern and Greek Civilizations.This research, carried on with the awareness of the scarcity of studies on musicarchaeology in Turkey, covers the history of the lyre. Due to their significance in thehistories of both music and culture, the topic is limited with ancient Near Eastern andGreek civilizations. Resources of archaeology, as well as musicology, played animportant role in the course of the study. In addition to examining the former literatureon the subject, studying the depictions of lyre types on archaeological findings and datafound in the literary sources of these civilizations were employed as research methods.The research displays the birth and development processes of various lyre typesand their distribution and diffusion among the cultures, where the roots of currentcivilizations of Near East and West lie. It is also established (or rather, re-established) bythis study that music archaeology is quite capable of contributing to the understanding ofthe history of music significantly.Keywords: Music archaeology, lyre, ancient music, Near Eastern music history,Anatolian music history, Mezopotamian music history, Ancient Greek music history.