Phorminx

The Phorminx (Greek φόρμιγξ ) is a played in Ancient Greece lyre from the first half of the 1st millennium BC, mentioned by Homer The stringed instrument featured two to six strings, which was played with the fingers or a plectrum. The Phorminx is from 9th to 6th century BC and became detectable later replaced by the kithara and the lyre.

With the Phorminx the singer of an epic accompanied his lecture, as Homer describes in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The archaeological findings and the music-theoretical writings of the ancient Greeks, as well as other sources ( Hesiod, Aristophanes ) indicate that the Phorminx unlike the Lyra originally had only four strings and so therefore could represent only four tones.

After Martin Tells it will have probably traded around the old ionic tone sequence EFAC 'd'. The origin of the Phorminx is suspected in Mesopotamia. Later versions of the Phorminx have up to seven strings.

The musical instruments were decorated according to Homer, Hesiod and Aristophanes with gold and ivory, and served to accompany the singer named as rhapsodists.