If there's a piece of art worth knowing from Ancient #Mesopotamia, at least for us, is the so-called Queen's Lyre, currently at @britishmuseum

Do you want to know all of its secrets? #archaeomusic #instruments #music

THREAD

The #lyres or harps of Ur are considered one of the oldest surviving stringed instruments in history. There exist two types of lyres: the box type and the bowl type. The lyres of Ur belong to the former group.

Silver lyre, c. 2600BC ( @britishmuseum)

The so-called "Queen's Lyre" (this is a reconstruction) was found at Queen Puabi's tomb by Sir Leonard Woolley, in an excavation at the Royal Cemetery of Ur between 1922 and 1934.

Queen's Lyre, @britishmuseum

At the tomb, the corpses of another ten women were found. Woolley wrote that one of them was laying against the lyre and her hands were placed where the strings would have been, suggesting she would have died playing.

Woolley holding a plaster mould of the lyre, Wikimedia

This is a close-up of the bull's head that presides the Queen's Lyre. It is covered in gold, and the eyes, the shell and the hair are carved in lapis lazuli. The horns are a modern adding, but they used to be there back in the day!

@britishmuseum

We have attested this kind of instruments in a wide variety of media. One of the hypothesis, because of the way they were found, is that burial ceremonies would have been accompanied by music.

Standard of Ur, detail @britishmuseum

Not just the bull's head, but the whole lyre was decorated profusely with inlaid lapis lazuli or shell.

Queen's Lyre from Woolley's published record, Wikimedia

The lyre was, from what we can gather from artistic and literary sources, one of the most famous and renowned instruments of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Here's a great video of Peter Pringle improvising on a replica of the Silver Lyre!

Did you know of this piece? Have you had the chance of seeing not just the Queen's Lyre, but any of the other preserved ones?

Make sure to share the thread if you enjoyed it!

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