CYMBAL, (Encycl.) Cassiodorus and Isidore call this instrument acetabulum, the name of a cup or cavity of a bone wherein another is articulated; and Xenophon compares it to a horse's hoof; whence it must have been hollow: which appears, too, from the figure of several other things denominated from it; as a basin, caldron, goblet, cask; and even a shoe, such as those of Empedocles, which were of brass.
In reality, the ancient cymbals appear to have been very different from our kettle-drums, and their use of another kind: to their exterior cavity was fastened a handle; whence Pliny compares them to the upper part of the thigh, and Rabanus to phials.
They were struck against one another, in cadence, and made a very acute sound. Their invention was attributed to Cybele; whence their use in feasts and sacrifices: setting aside this occasion, they were seldom used but by dissolute and effeminate people. M. Lampe, who has written expressly on the subject, attributes the invention to the Curetes, or inhabitants of mount Ida in Crete: it is certain these, as well as the Corybantes, or guards of the kings of Crete, and those of Rhodes and Samothracia, were reputed to excel in the music of the cymbal.