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The Bull Headed Lyre is one of the oldest string instruments ever discovered. The lyre was excavated in the Royal Cemetery at Ur during the 1926–1927 season of an archeological dig carried out in what is now Iraq jointly by the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum. Leonard Woolley led the excavations.
The "Bull Headed Lyre" is 40 cm in height, 11 cm in width, and 19 cm in depth. The shape of the lyre is meant to resemble a bull's body. Its head, face and horns are all wrapped in gold foil while its hair, beard, and eyes are made of lapis lazuli. [13] Below the head is a front panel made of shell inlay set into bitumen. [14]
Yet another lyre incorporated various materials including wood, shell, lapis lazuli, red stone, silver and gold. The lyres found at Ur often included the representation of animals including a cow, stag, bearded bull, and a calf. Of particular note is the Bull-headed lyre from PG 789, also referred to as the "King's Grave".
c. 2800 BC - The invention of the harp and the lyre in Mesopotamia. [3] [4] c. 2550–2450 BC - The invention of the Bull Headed Lyre of Ur, string instrument used in Mesopotamia. c. 2550-2450 BC - The invention of the Lyres of Ur, a stringed musical instrument from the Early Dynastic III Period of Mesopotamia. [5]
Bull head in a lyre. Bull-headed lyre recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur Iraq 2550-2450 BCE. Nacre plate on lyre, with anthropomorphic animals, PG 789.
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 ...
English: The Great Golden Lyre from Ur, Mesopotamia, Iraq. The bull's head is a replica; the original head is stored and is not on display. The bull's head is a replica; the original head is stored and is not on display.
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]