Musical Instrument Timeline

Timeline

41000 BCE - 32768 BCE
First known musical instrument, a bone flute (found in modern-day Germany).
c. 5000 BCE
The first aulos musical instruments are carved from bone.
2700 BCE - 2300 BCE
The first depiction in art of the aulos musical instrument appears in Cycladic sculpture.
2000 BCE
The first examples of the lyre in the Bronze Age Aegean occur in the Cyclades and on Minoan Crete.
1500 BCE - 1450 BCE
The 'Harvester Vase' of Minoan origin depicts a sistrum player.
1420 BCE - 1300 BCE
Clay dancing figures including a rare female lyre player are made in Minoan Palaikastro.
c. 1400 BCE
Lyres across the Aegean assume S-shaped arms and become more decoratively carved, most often with sculpted birds.
1250 BCE - 1200 BCE
A Linear B tablet from Greek Thebes mentions lyre players as members of the royal palace staff.
600 BCE - 550 BCE
The silver stater coin of Calymna in Caria depicts a tortoise shell lyre on its reverse side.
c. 550 BCE
The silver drachma of Delos depicts a lyre - symbolic of Apollo - on its reverse side.
c. 400 BCE
Theban musicians invent a more sophisticated aulos with metal keys.
328 BCE
Herodoros of Megara wins the first of ten consecutive trumpet competitions at the Olympic Games.
c. 100 BCE
Coins of Kos and Thespiai depict a lyre on their reverse side.