Chelys: Greece musical instrument
The chelys was a stringed musical instrument, the common lyre of the ancient Greek people that had a convex back shell that is made of tor...
https://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2013/12/chelys-greece-musical-instrument.html
The chelys was a stringed musical
instrument, the common lyre of the ancient Greek people that had a convex back
shell that is made of tortoise or of wood shaped like the shell. The name of
the musical instrument was used in allusion to the oldest lyre of the people of
Greek that was said to have been invented by Hermes. According to the Homeric
Hymn to Hermes he was attracted by the sounds of melodies while walking on the
banks of Nile, and found they proceeded from the shell of a tortoise across
which were spread tendons whish the wind had set in vibration.
source of picture: es.wikipedia.org
The word has been applied arbitrarily
since classical times to different stringed musical instruments, some bowed and
some twanged, perhaps owing to the back being much vaulted. Athanasius Kircher
applied the name of the musical instrument to a type of viol that has 8
strings. Most of the representations of the chelys lyre testudo or Greek vases
that the real shell of a tortoise is portrayed.
