The kithara, an instrument of the lyre family, had seven strings of equal length and a solidly built, wooden body, usually with a flat base. Strings of gut or sinew were stretched from a holder at the base of the instrument over a bridge to the crossbar that joined the two sidepieces. The musician (kitharode), who usually stood while playing, made music by stroking the plektron in his right hand across the strings, sounding all those not damped with his left fingers. During performances, the instrument rested against the musician’s shoulder, and was supported by a sling that wrapped around the left wrist. The musician could regulate pitch by the tension and, perhaps, thickness of the strings. By the end of the seventh century B.C., the kithara found a major niche in Greek public performances. Although similar in form to the tortoiseshell Greek lyra, which any well-bred Greek citizen might play, the kithara with its large sound box was more suited for virtuoso display. It was generally a professional musician’s instrument reserved for public concerts, choral performances, and competitions.
Very little is known of the precise sound of the kithara in performance. In general, our knowledge of Greek music comes from fragmentary musical scores, some remains of instruments (mostly reed-blown pipes), inscriptions, and depictions in Greek sculpture and vase painting. Nontechnical references in ancient literature, especially the works of poets and philosophers, shed some light on the practice of music, its social roles, and perceived aesthetic qualities. Greek theoretical essays provide insight into the structure of ancient music, and a limited number of essays, most notably passages of Athenaeus and the pseudo-Plutarchan dialogue, De musica, describe the nature and history of musical practice. The kithara is known primarily from written sources and from images on black- and red-figure pottery, such as the amphora attributed to the Berlin Painter (56.171.38) in the Metropolitan’s collection. Here, a musician in a long, slim garment accompanies himself on the kithara, his sash swaying with the rhythm of his song. He spreads the fingers of his left hand behind the strings of his instrument and prepares to strike them with the plektron, or pick, in his right hand. The muscles in his neck stretch as he throws back his head and opens his mouth to sing.
Colette Hemingway
Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2002
Hemingway, Colette. “The Kithara in Ancient Greece.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kith/hd_kith.htm (October 2002)
Bundrick, Sheramy D. Music and Image in Classical Athens. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Maas, Martha, and Jane McIntosh Snyder. Stringed Instruments of Ancient Greece. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
Hemingway, Colette. “Architecture in Ancient Greece.” (October 2003)
Hemingway, Colette. “Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) and Art.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette. “The Labors of Herakles.” (January 2008)
Hemingway, Colette. “Medicine in Classical Antiquity.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette. “Retrospective Styles in Greek and Roman Sculpture.” (July 2007)
Hemingway, Colette. “Sardis.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette. “Southern Italian Vase Painting.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette. “Theater in Ancient Greece.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette. “Women in Classical Greece.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Ancient Greek Colonization and Trade and their Influence on Greek Art.” (July 2007)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “The Art of Classical Greece (ca. 480–323 B.C.).” (January 2008)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Art of the Hellenistic Age and the Hellenistic Tradition.” (April 2007)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Athletics in Ancient Greece.” (October 2002)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Cyprus—Island of Copper.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Etruscan Art.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Greek Gods and Religious Practices.” (October 2003)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Greek Hydriai (Water Jars) and their Artistic Decoration.” (July 2007)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Hellenistic Jewelry.” (April 2007)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Intellectual Pursuits of the Hellenistic Age.” (April 2007)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Minoan Crete.” (October 2002)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Music in Ancient Greece.” (October 2001)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Mycenaean Civilization.” (October 2003)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “Prehistoric Cypriot Art and Culture.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “The Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander the Great.” (October 2004)
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. “The Technique of Bronze Statuary in Ancient Greece.” (October 2003)
Hemingway, Sean, and Colette Hemingway. “Africans in Ancient Greek Art.” (January 2008)







