Description
“Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” – 1 Samuel 16:23
This is a replica of the ancient lyre of Meggido Har, played by King David himself and named after the ancient city of Meggido (aka Armageddon) sit atop a hill in the Jezreel Valley in what is today northern Israel. Careful excavations of 26 layers of debris have revealed that the area has been occupied for about 6000 years and that the city has been destroyed by wars and natural disasters many times, and then rebuilt.
King David has been depicted by artists as playing an extraordinary variety of instruments including a number of harps of decidedly medieval European design, as well as Greco-Roman lyres (lyres of the Greek god Apollo) that can be seen on the coins of first-century Roman-occupied Judea. The image appears on one of the famous “Megiddo ivories” that were excavated by archaeologist Gordon Loud, at what are believed to be the remains of a Late Bronze Age royal palace. The illustration is etched onto a sliver of a hippopotamus tooth, and probably adorned the lid of a box or some other decorative item. Since the hippo is found in the waters of the Upper Nile River, in Egypt, this piece shows the enormous range and influence of Egyptian culture throughout the Middle East in that period.
LUTHIEROS Lyre of Har Meggido has 10 strings, and it is ideal for anyone willing to learn how to play an ancient string musical instrument, as it provides more than a full octave. With the use of harmonics and other advanced playing techniques, a 10-strings lyre can produce three to four full octaves, along with the sharps!
The Late Bronze Age covers a period from roughly 1600 to 1200 B.C. which puts this piece very close to the time of the biblical King David, who is believed to have lived sometime around 1000 B.C. As most people know, according to the Old Testament, David was a musician, singer, and purportedly writer of many of the Psalms. He was said to have played a 10-string lyre (“kinnor” in Hebrew) which is exactly the type of instrument we see in the Megiddo ivory. The figure playing the lyre is dressed in the manner of a Canaanite, not an Egyptian, and is playing an instrument with 10 strings.
