kithara

A musical instrument of classical antiquity, resembling a lyre. It had a wooden resonator (usually rectangular) from which two arms (usually hollow) extended upwards, and were connected by a crossbar from which between 3 and 11 strings were stretched to the base of the resonator. These strings were plucked with a plectrum. The lyre, a smaller instrument, had a resonator of tortoise-shell.

The kithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the zither family. The kithara had a deep, wooden sounding box. As opposed to the simpler lyra, which was a folk-instrument, the kithara was primarily an instrument used by professional musicians (see kitharode). The barbitos was a bass version of the kithara that was popular in the eastern Aegean and ancient Asia Minor.