[3] The lyra spread widely via Byzantine trade routes between Eurasia and Africa; European writers in the 11th and 12th centuries used the terms 'fiddle' and 'lira' interchangeably when colloquially referring to bowed instruments.

[3] The Middle Eastern rabāb was probably inspired by early South Asian lap-fiddles, like the Indo-Nepalese sarangi, before later arriving in Western Europe, likely through continued Arab presence in the Iberian Peninsula.

Both instruments spread further throughout the continent, birthing many bowed fiddles across Europe such as the medieval rebec, the Swedish silverbasharpa (and eventual nyckelharpa), and the Scando-Icelandic talharpa, among others.

A notable example is the Italian lira da braccio,[3] a 15th-century bowed string instrument that many consider to be the predecessor of the contemporary violin.

The Byzantine lyra is sometimes informally called a medieval fiddle, or a pear-shaped rebec, or a kemanche, terms that may be used today to refer to a general category of similar stringed instruments played with a horsehair bow.

The lyra depicted on the Byzantine ivory casket of Museo Nazionale, Florence (900 – 1100 AD) has two strings and pear-shaped body with long and narrow neck.