Pandura

The pandura^[1] (Ancient Greek: πανδοῦρα, pandoura) is an ancient Greek string instrument from the Mediterranean basin.

Lutes have been present in ancient Greece since the 4th century BC.^[2]

They were also present in Mesopotamia since the Akkadian era, or the third millennium BCE.^[3]

Human pottery figurine, Susa, first half of 2nd millennium BC

Moulded figurine, Susa. Medo-Elamite period. 14th–12th centuries BC

Greek

Ancient Greek Tanagra figurine, 200 BC

The ancient Greek pandoura was a medium or long-necked lute with a small resonating chamber, used by the ancient Greeks. It commonly had three strings: such an instrument was also known as the trichordon (τρίχορδον, McKinnon 1984:10). Its descendants still survive as the Greek tambouras and bouzouki,^[4][5] the North African kuitra, the Eastern Mediterranean saz and the Balkan tamburica and remained popular also in the near east and eastern Europe, too, usually acquiring a third string in the course of time,^[6] since the fourth century BCE.

Renato Meucci (1996) suggests that the some Italian Renaissance descendants of Pandura type were called chitarra italiana, mandore or mandola. In the 18th century the pandurina (mandore) was often referred to as mandolino napoletano.

Roman

Under the Romans the pandura was modified: the long neck was preserved but was made wider to take four strings, and the body was either oval or slightly broader at the base, but without the inward curves of the pear-shaped instruments.^[7]

Memorial stele for a 16-year-old Roman girl, Lutatia Lupata, showing her playing the Roman variant, the pandurium. C. 2nd Century A.D. Found in May 1956 in Merida, Spain, at the Roman Necropolis, Augusta Emerita. Kept at the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, Merida, Spain.^[8][9][10]

Related instruments

There were also at least two distinct varieties of pandura.^[7] One type was pear-shaped, used in Assyria and Persia.^[7] In this type the body had graceful inward curves which led up gradually from base to neck.^[7] These curves changed at the bottom end off the instrument to a more sloping outline, an elongated triangle with the corners rounded off.^[7] The oval type, a favourite instrument of the Egyptians, was also found in ancient Persia and among the Arabs of North Africa.^[7]

Regional variations

Caucasus

A similar instrument is found in Chechnya and Ingushetia, where it is known as Vainakhs Phondar.

In Georgia the panduri is a three-string fretted instrument widely spread in all regions of Eastern Georgia: such as Pshavkhevsureti, Tusheti, Kakheti and Kartli. A similar Georgian instrument is the chonguri.

See also

• Tambouras
• Baglamas
• Mandora
• Bandura
• Tanbur
• Bouzouki (modern Greek instrument)
• Mandolin

Notes

References

• J.W. McKinnon "Pandoura" in New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments Vol 3 p 10 ed S. Sadie (Macmillan Press, London 1984).

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Pandura.

• Pandoura: the greco-Roman lute of antiquity

Greek musical instruments Ancient Barbiton Chelys Epigonion Kithara Pan flute Pandura Phorminx Salpinx Trigonon Water organ String Instruments Bowed instruments Lyra (Byzantine Cretan Pontian) Plucked instruments Baglamas Bouzouki Karantouzeni Laouto Lavta Mandola Mandolin Psaltery Tambouras Thaboura Tzouras Struck instruments Santouri Aerophones Woodwind instruments Aulos Askomandoura Tsampouna Floghera Karamuza Lalitsa Mantura Souravli Percussion instruments Membranophones Tambourine Toubeleki Tympano Idiophones Cochilia Crotalum Koudounia Trigono Zilia See also Music of Greece Greek folk music Byzantine music Rebetiko Laïko Greek dances