Lyra is the lyre of Orpheus, son of Apollo, and husband of Eurydice.  Orpheus played the harp so well, that he was able to charm animals and tree.  When Eurydice died young, Orpheus decided to head to the underworld to try  some of his harp magic on its denizens.  It worked, and Orpheus was able to convince Hades to let Eurydice leave the underworld, and go back to the land of the living.  The only catch was Eurydice was to walk behind her husband, and he was not supposed to look back at her as they left the underworld.  As you might expect, Orpheus could not resist the temptation to look back, and when he did, Eurydice was pulled back into the underworld, and Orpheus never saw her again. 

 

Despondent, Orpheus wandered around the world playing this lyre, while trees and animals followed him.  One day his music charmed a group of drunken women.  When Orpheus refused to have sex with these women, they tore him limb from limb, and took his head back to the island of Lesbos.  The rest of his body was buried, Apollo took Orpheus' lyre and set it in the heavens to honor him.