Cretan Lyra.

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The old model of the Cretan lyra (also called lyraki ~ small lyra), is tuned 5-1-4. The performer plays the melody on the 1st and 3rd string, using the 2nd string as a drone (Magrini 1997), similarly to the Byzantine lyras from ca. 1190 AD, found in the excavations of Novgorod (Anthony Baines, 1992).​
The contemporary lyra replaces the drone strings with three strings in succession (d-a-e'). The contemporary lyra is tuned in fifths, like the violin, it uses no drone string, and all strings may be fingered and used as melody strings.











​Common lyra                             Lyraki​