SEIKILO Publications

From ancient Greek philosophers to Renaissance artists

To have a future, we must bring forward her glorious past and everything that made the lyre be the Lyre.

Why was it so important to be associated with the lyre in the ancient world? How did the lyre gradually become a powerful symbol of culture and education? Why was it crucial for even great heroes like Achilles and Alexander the Great to master her playing? Why did Ludwig van Beethoven, a highly-famed pianist, choose to be portrayed holding a lyre in his most well-known portrait? And what led the esteemed Socrates to become a lyre student in his later years?

Welcome to a brand-new book and music album series, a SEIKILO original. It is a multifaceted project, mindfully moderated by a team of skillful authors and scholars, all closely affiliated with the worldwide lyre community.

Our goal is to introduce the mythos of the lyre to the general audience, exploring the celebrated past of this unique ancient musical instrument through mythology, history, literature, and arts.

All the above questions might sound unexpected and disconnected from each other, but they can help us understand the essence of the lyre’s symbolism. To answer each one of them (and every similar question that might pop up while you are reading this book—or days, months, or years after), we have to dive into the vast ocean of Greek & Roman mythology, history, and literature.

This is what all our books are aiming for. But they are also part of something bigger, a worldwide ecosystem that began to form around the lyre almost a decade ago, including (but not limited to) the LUTHIEROS workshop, the SEIKILO Ancient World Music Channel on YouTube, the LyreAcademy, and the SEIKILO Museum of Ancient Music in Greece.

So far, we have focused on the future of the lyre, as this is our true passion. But to have a future, we must bring forward her glorious past and everything that made the lyre be the Lyre. 

Nikolaos Koumartzis, D.Phil.