The Great Lyre from Ur The Great Lyre with Bull’s Head is the oldest stringed instrument found by an archeologist Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. This valuable historical relic is now well-preserved in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The lyre was created between c. 2600 BCE and c. 2500 BCE during the Sumerian Period. It was discovered in a royal tomb from an ancient Mesopotamian city named Ur and its contemporary location is Muqaiyir, Iraq. The lyre looks like an ancient harp and was used to perform music. Before excavated by Woolly, it was placed beside a woman who was buried with a royal figure. Thus, the archeologist presumed that this instrument could be played by this woman for the purpose of elegy on funeral ceremony of occupant of the tomb. The bull’s head [Figure 02-07] was constructed with precious material such as gold, silver and lapis lazuli. The length of the head is 14’’ (35.5cm) and the total length of the lyre is 55 ½’’ (140cm). The material used is too rare to find, so artificer used gold foil to cover the
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A lion follows him with a jar of wine in one hand and a bowl in the other. They are carrying food and drinks to a feast, which in this case, could be funeral rites. The hyena looks like a butcher because a dagger is tucked into his belt. And the register beneath it has a bear dancing bear and a donkey acting as a musician who is performing music using the lyre. The lyre on the panel has a bull’s head at the front so that people can recognize it as the Great Lyre itself. By the time it was found by Leonard Woolley, the part made of wood was corroded and destroyed. The one that currently exhibiting in the Museum has been repaired using image of lyre shown on the inlaid panel. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a story writes about Gilgamesh encounters a scorpion-man, which seems to be the one with a goat standing behind him on the bottom
A lion follows him with a jar of wine in one hand and a bowl in the other. They are carrying food and drinks to a feast, which in this case, could be funeral rites. The hyena looks like a butcher because a dagger is tucked into his belt. And the register beneath it has a bear dancing bear and a donkey acting as a musician who is performing music using the lyre. The lyre on the panel has a bull’s head at the front so that people can recognize it as the Great Lyre itself. By the time it was found by Leonard Woolley, the part made of wood was corroded and destroyed. The one that currently exhibiting in the Museum has been repaired using image of lyre shown on the inlaid panel. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a story writes about Gilgamesh encounters a scorpion-man, which seems to be the one with a goat standing behind him on the bottom