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The Lyres of Ur or Harps of Ur is a group of four string instruments excavated in a fragmentary condition at the Royal Cemetery at Ur in Iraq from 1922 onwards. They date back to the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia , between about 2550 and 2450 BC, making them the world's oldest surviving stringed instruments. [ 1 ]
The beard is made of carved lapis lazuli tesserae on a silver backing. The tips of the bull's horns are also lapis lazuli, making this the only animal-shaped lyre at Ur to have horns tipped in a separate material. [1] The eyes of the bull are shell and lapis lazuli strung with copper wire. [4]
The earliest reference to the word "lyre" is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists" and written in the Linear B script. [5] In classical Greek, the word "lyre" could either refer specifically to an amateur instrument, which is a smaller version of the professional cithara and eastern-Aegean barbiton, or "lyre" can refer generally to all three instruments as a family. [6]
These Lyres of Ur include the "Gold Lyre" (Iraq Museum) [124] [122] and the "Bull Headed Lyre" (Penn Museum). [125] The Gold Lyre of Ur now held in the Iraq Museum is a partial reconstruction; the original was destroyed in the looting that followed the US invasion of Baghdad during the second Iraq War. [126] Musicologist Samuel Dorf details the ...
Ur [a] (/ ʊr / or / ɜːr / [3]) was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar [b] (Arabic: تَلّ ٱلْمُقَيَّر, lit. 'mound of bitumen') in Dhi Qar Governorate, southern Iraq.
The number of grave goods that Woolley uncovered in Puabi's tomb was staggering. They included a heavy, golden headdress made of golden leaves, rings and plates; a superb lyre (see Lyres of Ur) complete with a golden and lapis lazuli-encrusted bearded bull's head; a profusion of gold tableware; golden, carnelian, and lapis lazuli cylindrical beads used in extravagant necklaces and belts; a ...
The lyres from the Royal Cemetery at Ur have been identified as a possible example of the balaĝ. [8] The use of this instrument during funerals is well attested. [8] Balaĝ was also a type of prayers accompanied by music, which later led to the use of the term to refer to another instrument associated with them, a type of kettledrum called ...
The Lyre of Mesopotamia is a video art made by Sam Chegini about the reconstruction steps of the Lyres of Ur. The Lyre of Mesopotamia was unveiled in December 2009 during an international congress held by UN-Habitat and IAARA in Qazvin, Iran, among other ancient instruments.