The
Byzantine lyra or
lira was a
medieval bowed string musical instrument in the
Byzantine Empire. In its popular form the lyra was a
pear-shaped instrument with three to five
strings, held upright and played by stopping the strings from the side with fingernails. Remains of two actual examples of Byzantine lyras from the
Middle ages have been found in excavations at
Novgorod; one dated to 1190 AD. The first known depiction of the instrument is on a Byzantine ivory casket (900–1100 AD), preserved in the Palazzo del Podesta in
Florence (
Museo Nazionale, Florence, Coll. Carrand, No.26). Versions of the Byzantine lyra are still played throughout the former lands of the Byzantine Empire:
Greece (
Politiki lyra, lit. "lyra of the City" i.e.
Constantinople), Crete (
Cretan lyra),
Albania,
Montenegro,
Serbia,
Bulgaria,
Republic of Macedonia,
Croatia (
Dalmatian Lijerica), Italy (
Calabrian lira) and
Turkey.