Guitars Galore

It is an image of a music performance/show. There is a large crowd of people and bright white lights are shining everywhere. There are three people that can be seen on stage. A man is on the left playing a guitar. A man is in the middle playing an instrument. And there is a woman on the right singing into a microphone.

While the history of guitars go back years and years, the most agreeable and well-known "ancestors" of guitars date way back to Ancient Egypt, Sumerian, and Babylonian times. These people carried instruments like harps and lyres, which are far ancestors of guitars. Around 2500-200 BC were when more advanced technology was created.
The first sort of "guitar" that we can recognize today was around 200 BC-Renaissance era. These guitar were smaller, but consisted anywhere from 4-5 strings rather than the 6+ strings we know. These guitars also only had 8 frets.
Finally, in the 17th-18th century the 6 strings were introduced to the guitar, and there were now a lot more frets than originally put on the instrument.

(All information provided from guyguitars.com.)

HISTORY OF THE GUITAR
2500-200 BC	Renaissance era	17-18th century
Harps, Lyres, Etc.	"Guitars", more like basses	Modern Guitars
3-4 strings	4-5 strings	6+ strings
Lyres were holdable while harps ere extremely big.	Renaissance "guitars" were sort of big, but still narrow and holdable.	Modern guitars are holdable but a quite big, and most require a strap across the back to play.