Pandur The name derives from pandur a Sumerian term for long necked lutes Source of our knowledge about this instrument is since the ancient Greek Mantineia marble 4th century BC now exhibited at National Archaeological Museum of Athens depicting the mythical contest between Apollo and Marsyas where Greek Pandouris is being played by a muse seated on a rock National Archaeological Museum of Athens e book by Latsis Foundation p 346 Lutes have been present in ancient Greece Pandura the first appearance in Greece They were also present in Mesopotamia since the Akkadian era or the third millennium BCE