Inancient Greece andRome, thetympanon (τύμπανον) ortympanum, was a type offrame drum ortambourine. It was circular, shallow, and beaten with the palm of the hand or a stick. Some representations show decorations orzill-like objects around the rim. The instrument was played by worshippers in the rites ofDionysus,Cybele, andSabazius.[1]
The instrument came to Rome from Greece and theNear East, probably in association with the cult ofCybele.[2] The first depiction in Greek art appears in the 8th century BC, on a bronze votive disc found in a cave onCrete that was a cult site forZeus.[3][4]
Thetympanum is one of the objects often carried in thethiasos, the retinue of Dionysus. The instrument is typically played by amaenad, while wind instruments such aspipes or theaulos are played bysatyrs. The performance of frenzied music contributed to achieving theecstatic state that Dionysian worshippers desired.[5]
Thetympanum was the most common of the musical instruments associated with the rites ofCybele in the art and literature of Greece and Rome, but does not appear in representations fromAnatolia, where the goddess originated.[6] From the 6th century BC, the iconography of Cybele asMeter ("Mother", or in LatinMagna Mater, "Great Mother") may show her with thetympanum balanced on her left arm, usually seated and with a lion on her lap or in attendance.[7] TheHomeric Hymn to the Great Mother says that the goddess loves the sound of thetympanum.[7] The drum continued to feature as an attribute of Cybele into theRoman Imperial era.[8]
