Lyre

(lir.) [Samederiv.] (Mus.) The name of the earliest known of all stringed instruments of music, invented, according to Egyptian tradition, by the god Mercury, and regarded among poets, painters, and statuaries as an emblem of Apollo and the Muses. It is supposed to have had, originally, only 3 strings; afterwards it had 11. It was played with a plectrum, or stick of ivory or polished wood, and sometimes with the fingers. It is said to have been primarily constructed of tortoise-shell, whence it has been sometimes termed testudo. [s. 563]