The first part of this paper deals with the evolution of the seven-stringed lyre into instrumentswith more strings, with particular regard to a Pythagorean eight-stringed instrument and a sevenstringedone which spans the interval of an octave. The focus of the second part is on a certainArchytas harmonikos, mentioned by Athenaeus (XIII 600f) and variously identified by scholarswith Archytas of Tarentum or with the less famous Archytas mousikos of Mytilene.