He both sang and played the "cithara" (a type of lyre). Instruments included the cithara, tympanum, and chorus. During a competition, the highest string on his five-string cithara broke. The boy plays the cithara and sings to the enjoyment of all. A cicada as offering, alights on his cithara, sustaining the note of the broken string. It was also spelled "cithara" or "kithara" and was Latin for the Greek lyre. Philoxenus had his Polyphemus perform on the cithara, a professional lyre requiring great skill. Apollo's left elbow is resting on a cithara at his side. Philoxenus had his Polyphemus play the cithara, a professional lyre requiring great skill. An Ancient Greek myth tells of the cithara player Eunomos ("Mr Goodtune"). The cithara is said to have been the invention of Apollo, the god of music.