Greek musical instruments were grouped under the general term of "all developments from the original construction of a tortoise shell with two branching horns, having also a cross piece to which the stringser from an original three to ten or even more in the later period, like the Byzantine era". Greek musical instruments can be classified into the following categories:

Ancient

* Aulos *

Barbiton The barbiton, or barbitos ( Gr: βάρβιτον or βάρβιτος; Lat. ''barbitus''), is an ancient stringed instrument related to the lyre known from Greek and Roman classics. The Greek instrument was a bass version of the kithara, an ...

* Chelys * Cithara (or Kithara) *

Crotalum In classical antiquity, a crotalum ( κρόταλον ''krotalon'') was a kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in ancient Greece and elsewhere, including the Korybantes. The term has been erroneously supposed by some w ...

Epigonion The epigonion ( el, ἐπιγόνιον) was an ancient stringed instrument, possibly a Greek harp mentioned in Athenaeus (183 AD), probably a psaltery. Description The epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into Greece, by Epigonus of ...

* Harp *

Kanonaki The qanun, kanun, ganoun or kanoon ( ar, قانون, qānūn; hy, քանոն, k’anon; ckb, قانون, qānūn; el, κανονάκι, kanonáki; he, קָאנוּן, ''qanun''; fa, , ''qānūn''; tr, kanun; az, qanun; ) is a string ...

* Lyre *

Pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

(Syrinx) *

Pandura The pandura ( grc, πανδοῦρα, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greek artwork d ...

Phorminx :''Phorminx is also a genus of cylindrical bark beetles.'' The phorminx ( grc, φόρμιγξ) was one of the oldest of the Ancient Greek stringed musical instruments, in the yoke lutes family, intermediate between the lyre and the kithara. It co ...

* Rhoptron *

Sambuca Sambuca () is an Italian anise-flavoured, usually colourless, liqueur. Its most common variety is often referred to as ''white sambuca'' to differentiate it from other varieties that are deep blue (''black sambuca'') or bright red (''red sambuc ...

Salpinx A salpinx (; plural salpinges ; Greek σαλπιγξ) was a trumpet-like instrument of the ancient Greeks. Construction The salpinx consisted of a straight, narrow bronze tube with a mouthpiece of bone and a bell (also constructed of bronze) of ...

* Sistrum * Psaltery *

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

Trigonon A trigonon (trígōnon, from Greek "τρίγωνον", "triangle") is a small triangular ancient Greek harp occasionally used by the ancient Greeks and probably derived from Assyria or Egypt. The trigonon is thought to be either a variety of the s ...

Water organ The water organ or hydraulic organ ( el, ὕδραυλις) (early types are sometimes called hydraulos, hydraulus or hydraula) is a type of pipe organ blown by air, where the power source pushing the air is derived by water from a natural source ...

(Hydraulis) File:Mildenhall treasure great dish british museum, detail-- dancer with cymbals.jpg, Roman art, 4th century A.D. Dancer with cymbals. File:Mildenhall treasure great dish british museum, detail-- satyr with pan pipes.jpg, Mildenhall treasure, great dish, British Museum, detail-- satyr with pan pipes File:Mildenhall treasure, great dish, British Museum, detail-- aulos and tambourine.jpg, Mildenhall treasure, great dish, British Museum, detail-- aulos and tambourine File:Mildenhall treasure, great dish, British Museum, frame drum.jpg, Mildenhall treasure, great dish, British Museum, frame drum

Medieval and modern

String instruments

Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...

Bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

Cretan lyra ) * Lira da braccio * Rabāb (Arabic الرباب) * Lijerica * Violin , musicians = * Andreas Rodinos * Alekos Karavitis * Antonis Papadakis (Kareklas) * Kostas Mountakis * Nikos Xilouris * Psarantonis * Ross Daly * Yiorgos K ...

Calabrian lira The Calabrian lira ( it, lira Calabrese) is a traditional musical instrument characteristic of some areas of Calabria, region in southern Italy. Characteristics The lira of Calabria is a bowed string instrument with three strings. Like most bo ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

* Mandolin *

Mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

* Oudola *

Oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

* Psaltery * Politiki lyra (Constantinople lyra) * Santouri *

Laouto The laouto ( el, λαούτο, pl. laouta ) is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. It has four double-strings. It is played in most respects like the oud (plucked ...

(big and small) *

Lavta The lavta is a plucked string music instrument from Istanbul. Description The Lavta has a small body made of many ribs made using carvel bending technique. Its appearance is somewhat like a small (Turkish) oud - the strings are made from gut ...

(Politiko laouto) * One stringed lyra (rare) * Macedonian lyra * Pontian lyra *

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

Baglamas The baglamas ( el, μπαγλαμάς) (plural '' baglamades'') or baglamadaki (), a long necked bowl-lute, is a plucked string instrument used in Greek music; it is a smaller version of the bouzouki pitched an octave higher (nominally D-A-D ...

Tzouras The ''tzouras'' ( el, τζουράς), is a Greek stringed musical instrument related to the bouzouki. Its name comes from the Turkish cura. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties. The six-string model has the same arrangement of ...

Tambouras The tambouras ( el, ταμπουράς ) is a Greek traditional string instrument of Byzantine origin. It has existed since at least the 10th century, when it was known in Assyria and Egypt. At that time, it might have between two and six strings ...

Thaboura The thaboura ( el, θαμπούρα), is a type of a string instrument, evolved from the Greek musical instrument tambouras. It is bigger than tambouras and it has 3 strings or 3 pairs of strings. The thaboura's history stretches back to the Byzant ...

* Karantouzeni * Bağlama

Aerophones An aerophone () is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes (which are respectively chordophones and membranophones), and without the vibration of the instr ...

* Askomandoura * Aulos *

Floghera The floghera ( el, φλογέρα, ) is a type of flute used in Greek folk music. It is a simple end-blown bamboo flute without a fipple, which is played by directing a narrow air stream against its sharp, open upper end. It typically has seven fin ...

Gaida A gaida is a bagpipe from Southeastern Europe. Southern European bagpipes known as ''gaida'' include: the , , (), () () or (), ''(')'', , also . Construction Bag Gaida bags are generally of sheep or goat hide. Different regions have ...

* Karamuza * Klarino * Lalitsa * Mantura * Souravli (Thiamboli) * Tsampouna *

Zurna The zurna ( Armenian: զուռնա zuṙna; Old Armenian: սուռնայ suṙnay; Albanian: surle/surla; Persian: karna/Kornay/surnay; Macedonian: зурла/сурла zurla/surla; Bulgarian: ''зурна/зурла''; Serbian: зурла/zu ...

Percussion instruments A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Cochilia * Crotala * Daouli * Koudounia * Toubeleki * Trigono * Tympano * Zilia

External links

Tα μουσικά όργανα των αρχαίων Eλλήνων/ancient Greek instruments
Greek culture {{Greece-stub