t
is evident that the barbiton never won for itself a place in the affections
of the Greeks of Hellas; it was regarded as a barbarian instrument affected
by those only whose tastes in matters of art were unorthodox. It had fallen
into disuse in the days of Aristotle,[2] but reappeared under the Romans.

In spite of the few meagre shreds of authentic information extant
concerning this somewhat elusive instrument, it is possible nevertheless to
identify the barbiton as it was known among the Greeks and Romans. From the
Greek writers we know that it was an instrument having some feature or
features in common with the lyre, which warranted classification with it.
From the Persians and Arabs we learn that it was a kind of _rebab_ or lute,
or a chelys-lyre,[3] first introduced into Europe through Asia Minor by way
of Greece, and centuries later into Spain by the Moors, amongst whom it was
in the 14th century known as _al-barbet_.[4] There is a stringed
instrument, as yet unidentified by name, of which there are at least four
different representations in sculpture,[5] which combines the
characteristics of both lyre and rebab, having the vaulted back and gradual
narrowing to form a neck which are typical of the rebab and the stringing
of the lyre. In outline it resembles a large lute with a wide neck, and the
seven strings of the lyre of the best period, or sometimes nine, following
the decadent lyre. Most authors in reproducing these sculptures showing the
barbiton represent the instrument as boat-shaped and without a neck, as,
for instance, Carl Engel. This is due to the fact that the part of the
instrument where neck joins body is in deep shadow, so that the correct
outline can hardly be distinguished, being almost hidden by hand on one
side and drapery on the other.

[Illustration: Barbiton, from a bas-relief in the Louvre, "Achilles at
Scyros."]

The barbiton, as pictured here, had probably undergone considerable
modification at the hands of the Greeks and had diverged from the
archetype. The barbiton, however, although it underwent many changes,
retained until the end the characteristics of the instruments of the Greek
lyre whose strings were plucked, whereas the rebab was sounded by means of
the bow at the time of its introduction into Europe. At some period not yet
determined, which we can but conjecture, the barbat approximated to the
form of the large _lute_ (_q.v._). An instrument called barbiton was known
in the e