An epigonion was an ancient stringed instrument mentioned in Athenaeus (183 C), probably a psaltery. Athenaeus ( Ancient Greek - Athếnaios Naukratios Latin Athenaeus Naucratita of Naucratis in Egypt Greek rhetorician and grammarian flourished A psaltery is a stringed Musical instrument of the Harp or the Zither family The epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into Greece by Epigonus of Ambracia, a Greek musician of Ambracia in Epirus, who was admitted to citizenship at Sicyon as a recognition of his great musical ability and of his having been the first to pluck the strings with his fingers, instead of using the plectrum. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Epigonus of Ambracia ( Greek:Επίγονος Αμβρακιώτης ( 6th century BC) was a Greek musician from Ambracia in South Epirus Ambracia, occasionally Ampracia ( Greek: ancient Ἀμπρακία modern Αμβρακία was an ancient Corinthian colony situated about 7 miles from Epirus (from Ionic Greek Ήπειρος - Ēpeiros, Doric Greek: Ἅπειρος - Apeiros, in Albanian For the modern municipality see Sikyona. Sicyon (Σικυών was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus Often called a pick or plec, a plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. The instrument, which Epigonus named after himself, had forty strings.
It was undoubtedly a kind of harp or psaltery, since in an instrument of so many strings some must have been of different lengths, for tension and thickness only could hardly have produced forty different sounds, or even twenty, supposing that they were arranged in pairs of unisons. The harp is a Stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. Strings of varying lengths require a frame like that of the harp, or of the Egyptian cithara which had one of the arms supporting the cross bar or zugon shorter than the other, or else strings stretched over harp-shaped bridges on a sound-board in the case of a psaltery. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The kithara was an Ancient Greek Musical instrument in the Lyre family
Juba II, king of Mauretania, who reigned from 30 BCE, said (Ap. Juba II ( Iuba in Latin Ιóβας (Ιóβα or Ιουβας in Greek) or Juba II of Numidia (reigned 25 BC - 23 AD was a king In Antiquity Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa (named after the Athen. l. c. ) that Epigonus brought the instrument from Alexandria and played upon it with the fingers of both hands, not only using it as an accompaniment to the voice, but introducing chromatic passages, and a chorus of other stringed instruments, probably citharas, to accompany the voice. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Epigonus was also a skilled citharist and played with his bare hands without plectrum Unfortunately we have no record of when Epigonus lived. Vincenzo Galilei has given us a description of the epigonion accompanied by an illustration, representing his conception of the ancient instrument, an upright psaltery with the outline of the clavicytherium (but no keyboard). Vincenzo Galilei (c 1520 &ndash July 2, 1591) was an Italian lutenist, Composer, and music theorist, and the father of A harpsichord is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard.
References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
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