Team Recreates Ancient Greek Kithara Will demonstrate musical
instrument, tell story of its building at Friday event - By
Jeffrey R. Wakefield How do you create a three-dimensional
design for an ancient Greek musical instrument when all you have
to go on are flat two-dimensional images on vases and coins and
a few timeworn statues? That’s the assignment Classics professor
John Franklin and student Tanner Lake gave themselves in 2009
when they decided to recreate an ancient Greek instrument called
a kithara, a seven-stringed version of the lyre used by
professional musicians in public concerts, choral performances
and competitions beginning in the seventh century B.C. “We
looked at any medium we could find to get the measurements and
all the angles," Franklin said. Franklin and Lake also consulted
ancient texts that described some elements of kithara
construction. Lake, a classics major who graduated in 2010,
designed the instrument under Franklin's supervision. The task
of building the kithara fell to luthier