(late Gk. barbiton).
Greek instrument of the Lyre family (a Chordophone). In Greek literature and vase painting it is generally associated with the Eastern Greek poets (including Terpander, Sappho, Alcaeus and Anacreon) of the Archaic period (7th and 6th centuries bce), and with drinking parties. The name of the instrument, probably of non-Greek derivation, occurs only once in the fragments of these early poets (in Alcaeus, ed. E.-M. Voigt, Sappho et Alcaeus: Fragmenta, 1971, frag.70.4, in the dialect form barmos), but it is frequently mentioned by later Greek writers, who attribute the instrument's ‘invention’ variously to Terpander or Anacreon. The arrival of Anacreon in Athens as a court poet in the late 6th century coincides with the sudden appearance of the barbitos in Athenian vase paintings, many of which show him as a player. As the chief string instrument used to accompany Dionysiac revelry, it is only occasionally depicted in the hands of Muses or of women entertaining themselves at home.
The barbitos is usually portrayed as having a tortoise-shell soundbox, long curved arms (probably made of wood) joined together by a crossbar at the top, and five to seven strings supported by a bridge and sounded with a plectrum attached to the instrument by a cord. The strings are attached at the crossbar by means of tuning devices called kollopes (pegs). The arms, which diverge as they leave the soundbox, curve towards each other near the top of the instrument, forming a distinctive shape. Rare profile views indicate that the arms curved forwards as well as outwards. The longer string length as compared to the schoolboy's tortoise-shell lyre suggests a relatively lower pitch.
The barbitos is generally shown held against the body of the player, who is often standing; a sling around the left wrist helps to support the instrument, which is tipped out at an angle of roughly 45 degrees from the vertical (see illustration). The left-hand fingers are probably used both to pluck and to dampen the strings. The right hand strums the strings with the plectrum.
After its heyday in Attic vase painting of the late 6th and early 5th centuries, the barbitos was less and less frequently depicted, and was almost never shown after the 5th century. Aristotle condemned it as an instrument inappropriate for education (Politics, 1341 a–b), but it continued to be mentioned in Greek literature, especially in drinking songs. In later times the barbitos as a literary symbol remained firmly associated with Lesbos, the homeland of Terpander, Sappho and Alcaeus (see Horace, Odes, 1.i.34).
H. Abert: ‘Saiteninstrumente’, Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, 2nd ser., i (Stuttgart, 1920), 1760–67
M. Wegner: Griechenland, Musikgeschichte in Bildern, ii/4 (Leipzig, 1963/R)
J. Snyder: ‘The Barbitos in the Classical Period’, Classical Journal, lxvii (1972), 331–40
M. Maas and J.M.Snyder: Stringed Instruments of Ancient Greece (New Haven, CT, 1987)
JANE McINTOSH SNYDER