Kithara
Ancient Greek musical instrument / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the medieval European stringed instrument, see Cythara.
The kithara, or Latinized cithara (Greek: κιθάρα, romanized: kithára, Latin: cithara), was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the yoke lutes family. It was a seven-stringed professional version of the lyre, which was regarded as a rustic, or folk instrument, appropriate for teaching music to beginners. As opposed to the simpler lyre, the cithara was primarily used by professional musicians, called kitharodes. In modern Greek, the word kithara has come to mean "guitar", a word which etymologically stems from kithara.[1]