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explore the celebrated
past of a godly instrument

Discover the Lyre in Mythos

ā€œI wish to tune my quivering lyre, to deeds of fame, and notes of fire.ā€ ā€”Ā Lord Byron

  • The Lyre Player: In the Footsteps of Apollo - An Introductory Book - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

    The Lyre Player: In the Footsteps of Apollo

    24.00 
  • The Song of the Lyre: Ancient Stories of Gods, Heroes, and Mortals - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

    The Song of the Lyre: Ancient Stories of Gods, Heroes, and Mortals

    29.00 
  • Healing Music in Ancient Greece: From the Healer God Apollo to the Pythagorean Universal Cure - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

    Healing Music in Ancient Greece

    29.00 
  • The Lyre as a Symbol: Deciphering 59 Masterpieces of Art - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

    The Lyre as a Symbol: Deciphering 59 Masterpieces of Art

    49.00 
  • Sale! Lyre Mythos Full Series - The Lyre as a Symbol - The Song of the Lyre - Healing Music in Ancient Greece - The Lyre Player: In the Foosteps of Apollo - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

    Lyre Mythos Combo Pack

    Original price was: 131.00 €.Current price is: 111.00 €.

Embark on a journey with the lyreā€”from myth to legend, poetry, and finally, realityā€”as we explore her rich history in ancient literature through the works of some of antiquityā€™s greatest dramatists, poets, and authors.

ā€” The Song of the LyreĀ (back-cover blurb)

Deciphering the
True Meaning of the Lyre

from ancient Greek philosophers to Renaissance artists

by Nikolaos Koumartzis,Ā D.Phil., Lyre Mythos’ editor-in-chief

Nikolaos Koumartzis, D.Phil. - Editor-in-Chief & Art Director in the Lyre Mythos Book series - LUTHIEROS.com - Koumartzis family

Lyre Mythos Publishing team

Nikolaos Koumartzis,Ā D.Phil.

Editor-in-Chief & Art Director in the series

Fotios Giantsios,Ā M.Litt.

Research Director & Anthologist

Michael J. Griffin, D.Phil. (Oxford)

Scholarly Advisor

To have a future, we must bring forward her glorious past
and everything that made the lyre be theĀ Lyre.

Why was it so important to be associated with the lyre in the ancient world? How did the lyre gradually become a powerful symbol of culture and education? Why was it crucial for even great heroes like Achilles and Alexander the Great to master her playing? Why did Ludwig van Beethoven, a highly-famed pianist, choose to be portrayed holding a lyre in his most well-known portrait? And what led the esteemed Socrates to become a lyre student in his later years?

Welcome to a brand-new book series titled Lyre Mythos, a SEIKILO original. It is a multifaceted project, mindfully moderated by a team of skillful authors and scholars, all closely affiliated with the worldwide lyre community.

Our goal is to introduce the mythos of the lyre to the general audience, exploring the celebrated past of this unique ancient musical instrument through mythology, history, literature, and arts.

All the above questions might sound unexpected and disconnected from each other, but they can help us understand the essence of the lyreā€™s symbolism. To answer each one of them (and every similar question that might pop up while you are reading this bookā€”or days, months, or years after), we have to dive into the vast ocean of Greek & Roman mythology, history, and literature.

This is what all the Lyre Mythos books are aiming for. But they are also part of something bigger, a worldwide ecosystem that began to form around the lyre almost a decade ago, including (but not limited to)Ā the LUTHIEROS workshop, the SEIKILO Ancient World Music Channel on YouTube, the LyreAcademy, and the SEIKILO Museum of Ancient Music in Greece.

So far, we have focused on the future of the lyre, as this is our true passion. But to have a future, we must bring forward her glorious past and everything that made the lyre be theĀ Lyre. With the bookĀ The Song of the LyreĀ and its companion art book,Ā Lyre as a Symbol, we launch a series of publications uncovering the depth of theĀ Lyreā€™s mythos. Soon, more books, equally compelling, will follow.Ā 

What to Expect?

Premium publication

We only use state-of-the-art printing technologies for our premium publications.Ā 

Help us dive deeper

Rest assured that your order finances the research needed for the next installment of the Lyre Mythos series so we can dive deeper and bring you the next valuable insight into the rich lyre mythos.

Delivery

Worldwide delivery with package tracking at any given time.

Help us dive deeper

Rest assured that your order finances the research needed for the next installment of the Lyre Mythos series so we can dive deeper and bring you the next valuable insight into the rich lyre mythos.

Premium publication

We only use state-of-the-art printing technologies for our premium publications.Ā 

Delivery

Worldwide delivery with package tracking at any given time.

What they said
about the books?

Armand Dā€™Angour, Professor of Classics, University of Oxford

A collection of ancient Greek & Roman stories that teaches us not only about the instrument but about philosophy, war, politics, education, and culture in general.

(aboutĀ The Song of the Lyre)

Dr. Athanasios Dritsas, MD, FESC, Cardiologist, Deputy Director, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens

This edition, of high aesthetics and quality, presents the ancient Greeksā€™ well-founded views on the healing properties of music through the effect of harmony and rhythm of musicā€”not exclusively on the functioning of the human body, but on the mind-body connection via a rather holistic perception.

(aboutĀ Healing Music in Ancient Greece)

Stella Kourmpana, Ph.D., Head of the Athens Conservatoire Historical Archives

The Lyre as a Symbol embarks on an enchanting journey through pivotal moments in portraying this unique instrument in paintings.

(aboutĀ The Lyre as a Symbol)

Zdravko Blažeković, Director of the Research Center for Music Iconography, City University of New York

The image of the lyre is a universal symbol of music throughout Western culture. […] This entire iconographic corpus facilitates our understanding of the symbolic power of the lyre in Western paintings.

(aboutĀ The Lyre as a Symbol)

From the instrument of gods and heroes to the hands of poets and singers, the lyre gradually became a symbol so powerful that her journey through history has no equal. Let us witness how the lyre transcended her material nature to become, in the hands of artists, the symbol of an entire civilization and a direct connection to the divine that lies in all of us.

ā€” The Lyre as a SymbolĀ (back-cover blurb)

Get in touch with us

Lyre Mythos Full Series - The Lyre as a Symbol: Deciphering 59 Masterpieces of Art - The Song of the Lyre: Ancient Stories of Gods, Heroes, and Mortals - SEIKILO Books - Koumartzis family

Contact our publishing team atĀ mythos [at] seikilo [dot] com

This is an open call to every scholar
who works on a related project.

The ancient lyre is a musical artifact that is gradually reclaiming her place in the modern music scene. Her mythos is divine – unlike any other existing instrument.

Our sincere hope for every installment of the Lyre Mythos series is to become the spark for more people to engage with this topic and explore further the lyreā€™s mythological halo. Soon, new books will emerge, and some will definitely be part of our SEIKILO publications. This is an open call to every author or scholar who works on a related project. Contact the SEIKILO publishing team if you believe your book can be part of our series.

Until then, enjoy this fascinating journey while discovering some of the most significant myths, stories, legends, and paintings ever created by human noesis. By doing so, you will understand why theĀ Lyre has this otherworldly power to soothe the human soul and unveil profound feelings – feelings that only she can evoke.Ā 

Ancient Lyre, Ancient Greece, Luthieros Music Instruments, Koumartzis, Ancient Harp

8 Ancient Melodies for free

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