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“Some say the Muses are nine: how careless! Look, there's Sappho too, from Lesbos, the tenth.” - Plato, epigram in the Anthologia Palatina
If you ever thought of having a unique ancient artefact in your home or even learn how to play an ancient music instrument, then you never had an opportunity like this before... This listing is for a replica of the ancient Greek lyre, the barbiton type, which is named after the Greek poet Sappho (well known for her poetry, full of passion and eroticism).
Sappho sang her poetry with the help of a barbiton lyre on the Greek island of Lesbos over 2500 years ago. Throughout the Greek world, her contemporaries composed lyric poetry full of passion, and in the centuries that followed the golden age of archaic lyric, new forms of poetry emerged.
For this, barbiton lyres was the main instrument during the ancient symposium and the Dionysian orgies, thanks to its deeper and sweeter sound (due to the greater length of its strings, compared to chelys lyres). Until the 4th century B.C. the barbiton lyres were disappeared from Ancient Greece to be re-introduced by the Romans mainly for sacrificial rituals.
Manufactured at the premises of the ancient Europos (Northern Greece) by a family of musicians and luthiers, the "Barbiton Lyre of Sappho" is made of (and only) natural materials available during the antiquity. This ancient artefact was evolved to become a modern music instrument ready to be used by both amateur and professional musicians (for example, a modern tuning method was chosen instead of the ancient hard-to-use one). For all the minor (but very important) alterations, latest technologies were used during the prototyping phase (such as 3d Scanning and 3d Modeling).
This lyre has 11 gut strings (a set of nylon stings are included too, for greater durability). The soundbox is made by wood shaped to produce rich sound, the arm, the tailpiece, the crossbar, the tuning keys and the bridge by maple wood, the sound-board by animal skin, and the plectrum by animal bone. The lyre's height is 96 cm with 60 cm width, while its soundbox dimensions are 21 x 17 x 7 cm.
Along with every lyre, a handbook is provided including all the different ancient Greek scales (for tuning the lyre) in the Aristoxenian tradition such as the Mixolydian, the Phrygian, the Dorian etc. What's more, the oldest music melodies that had survived are also included such as the Hellenistic "Seikilos Epitaph" (2.000 years old, the oldest known complete melody of the human kind), and further descriptions regarding what modes were used in the antiquity for evoking specific feelings such as sorrow, happiness, bravery etc. Last, a full-color 68-pages book (in the form of a .pdf file) will be given, with more than 100 photos, describing the research behind our lyres and the whole design process.
The lyres available for purchase are very limited. Needles to say that no animals were harmed...
"Solon of Athens heard his nephew sing a song of Sappho's over the wine and, since he liked the song so much, he asked the boy to teach it to him. When someone asked him why, he said: 'So that I may learn it, then die.' "- Florilegium (3.29.58) of Stobaeus
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