A string instrument whose strings are attached to a yoke which consists of two arms and a crossbar. The yoke lies in the same plane as the soundtable (unlike a harp, whose strings are at right angles to the soundtable). The earliest known lyres, dating from the 3rd millennium BCE, were found in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Lyres appeared in several ancient Mediterranean cultures and spread throughout medieval Europe. Lyres were also played in the East African kingdoms of Kush (c650 BCE–325 CE) and Aksum (c100–350 CE), a tradition which has survived unbroken in modern Ethiopia.