It is presumed that the harp moved westward from Egypt in ancient times to Greece and Italy as early as the 6th century B.C.E. The harp first appears in medieval Europe in illuminated manuscripts and carvings from the 8th to 10th century. It was very popular in Ireland, beginning in the 10th century, where it became the country's national symbol. The Irish harp has a sound box carved from a single piece of wood, a pillar that curves outward, and 30 to 36 metal strings that can be played with either the fingers or the finger nails.
Our modern orchestral harp evolved through a series of formats which attempted to solve the problem of chromaticism. The final version, a "double action" harp, was patented in 1810 by Sebastian Erard of Paris and enabled the performer to alternate the pitch of each string between falt, natural, and sharp by moving a pedal between three individual positions.
