According
to Strabo, Terpander, a native poet and musician of Antissa in Lesvos. He
is said to have invented a seven-stringed instrument resembling a lyre,
called a 'kithara' by increasing the number of strings from four to seven.
Terpander won a prize for music with that instrument at the 26th Olympiad
held in Sparta, and he established a school for musicians there. He is
also created a system of musical notation. While there is evidence that
such lyres existed before Terpander's time, there is a representation of
such a lyre on a pot from Old Smyrna dated to the second half of the
seventh century -- the time when Terpander won his reputation.
Terpander is said to have started the first music schools in Sparta. He is
thought to have sung poems similar to the Homeric hymns. His name is
associated with the form of a song sacred to Apollo known as the nome. He
is also considered the founder of lyric poetry.
