Silver Lyre from Ur

(The British Museum)

Materials:
wood, silver, shell, limestone, lapis lazuli.
Place:
Excavated/Findspot Royal Cemetery.
(Asia,Iraq,South Iraq,Royal Cemetery (Ur))
Date:
2600BC
Period/Culture:
Early Dynastic III.
Description:
Silver lyre; the silver which covers this lyre and its bull's head, and the shell, lapis lazuli
and red limestone inlay decoration are ancient, but the frame, the pegs, strings and
bridge are modern; the original silver pegs are exhibited separately; the panel on the
front of the lyre depicts fallow deer and a tree on a hill, lions attacking a goat, and a lion
attacking a gazelle.
Dimensions:
Height: 97.5 centimetres
Length: 69 centimetres
Width: 5.5 centimetres (body)
Length: 103 centimetres (bar)
Length: 18 centimetres (pin)
Height: 15.5 centimetres (shell decoration)
Acquisition date:
1929
Curator's comments
This object was originally reconstructed by Woolley in 1936 using paraffin wax. This
gave way in July 1949 and the object was removed from display. Steps were begun to
conserve and restore the object in 1962 when it was sent to the laboratory on 16 July,
and over the course of the following two years Mr R.M. Organ of the Research
Laboratory worked on this project, assisted by Mrs Charlotte Podro, then Conservation
Officer in the Dept of Western Asiatic Antiquities. The work was then taken over and
completed by Marjorie Hutchinson (nee MacGregor) under the supervision of Mr H.
Barker and Mr A. Oddy of the Laboratory, and the object returned in May 1968.
After preliminary treatment to remove the paraffin wax, the carbonates and copper salts,
the remaining silver chloride was reduced electrolytically to massive silver by a thenew process known as consolidative reduction (the process later published by Organ).
Through this process, all shapes and surface details, including the impressions of string,
the bridge and the matting on which the object lay in the ground, were preserved. The
bridge and tuning pegs were substituted with perspex and the lyre mounted on a frame
of the same material which was fashioned by Mr Ian McIntyre of the Research
Laboratory. The silver was re-attached using a hard wax of high melting point
(Cosmolid 80H) with 25% beeswax. A decision was made to add perspex levers to the

reconstruction rather than incorporate the silver originals which were considered too
weak. The reconstruction was also strung with nylon threads to help show its original
appearance (Report to Trustees 2 June 1969).
Photographs before and after the latter restoration were published as part of a short note
in 'The British Museum Report of the Trustees 1966-1969', pp.42-43, pls IX a-b. See
also 'Iraq' vol. 31, plate XI. The photograph taken immediately before restoration does
not appear to be in ANE's archives or photographic albums. The negative PS0688467 is
copied from the Ur negative U.1341, which is the photograph published by Woolley in
UE II pl. 111, and which seems to be the only available photograph of the complete lyre
before the 1960s restoration.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_
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Mosaic III century, found in Edessa, now Urfa, Turkey, representing Orpheus
domesticating animals, and with an inscription in Syriac. //

Terpsichore: muse of dance. Detail from a Roman mosaic at Trier (Neustrasse),

Germany, showing Terpsichore with a lyre. End 2nd- early 3rd century AD.
Landesmuseum Trier.

A ceramic bowl from Iran around the year 575... with a music maker

In Afghanistan Rabab (or Kabuli Robab) is a short-necked or long-necked lute

originating from Afghanistan. the 10th Century.

Detail of a painting from the Tomb of Neferhotep, Chief scribe of Amun, luxor. 18th
dynasty, New Kingdom. This scene shows Meretre, the wife of Neferhotep who was the
'Chief Scribe of Amun', wearing a long, heavy wig. She is standing behind her husband
whose shoulder and wig are visible on the picture. She is raising her hand with a
Sistrum, one of the symbols of the goddess Hathor.

Bronze arched sistrum with Hathor head decoration

From Egypt
Late Period, after 600 BC
Music for the gods
The sistrum was basically a rattle comprising an arch (an inverted U-shaped section)
with a handle attached. The arch had a number of cross pieces onto which were threaded
metal discs. When the sistrum was shaken, the discs rattled. The top of the handle was
often decorated with the head of Hathor, patron of music. The instrument, carried in
tomb and temple scenes, indicated devotion to Hathor, and symbolized adoration in
general. The similarity between the shape of the sistrum and that of the ankh meant that,
like the ankh, it came to represent life.
The sistrum was used in Egyptian festivals and was often played by temple
songstresses. Shaking the sistrum probably marked the division of the phrases in
adulatory hymns. It was believed that the sound of rattling also drove off malign forces,

preventing them from spoiling the festival.

The sistrum continued to be used in Egypt well after the rule of the pharaohs. By the
time of the Greek author Plutarch, around the first or second century AD, the arch of the
sistrum had come to symbolise the lunar cycle and the sistrum's bars, the elements. The
Hathor heads were interpreted as Isis and Nephthys, who represented life and death
respectively. In ceremonies of the Coptic period, priests extended the sistrum to the four
cardinal points to indicate the power of god.
R.D. Anderson, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiqu-2 (London, The British Museum Press,
1976)
Length: 38.400 cm
Width: 8.100 cm
EA 36310
Ancient Egypt and Sudan
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/b/bronze_arche
d_sistrum.aspx

Blind harpist playing at a banquet, 1422-1411 BC, wall painting, 25 22 cm, tomb of
Nakht, Thebes.
Arpista ciego tocando en un banquete, 1422-1411 a.c., pintura mural, 25 22 cm,
tumba de Nakht, Tebas