Lyre, one of the oldest forms of stringed instrument. It was introduced into Egypt from Palestine during the 18th dynasty, and was common among the Greeks even in the heroic times. Most of the barbarians who invaded the Roman empire were acquainted with the lyre, and must have independently attained the knowledge of it. Its sounds can be no more in number than its strings. Consequently, since the rise of the modern scale, the lyre, whose strings were originally seven in number and subsequently increased to 16, has been unable to cope with the growing exigencies of intricate music.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.