(κυμβάλιον), a musical instrument in use among the ancients. The cymbal was made of brass, like our kettle-drums, and, as some think, in the same form, but smaller, and of different use. Ovid applies to cymbals the epithet of genialia, because they were used at weddings and other diversions. Cassiodorus and Isidore denominate this instrument acetabulum, the name of a cup or cavity of a bone in which another is articulated; and Xenophon compares it to a horse's hoof; whence it must have been hollow. But, in reality, the ancient cymbals appear to have been different from our kettledrums, and their use of another kind: for to their exterior cavity was fastened a handle, from which circumstance Pliny compares them to the upper part of the thigh, and Rabanus to phials.

They were struck against each other in cadence, and made a very acute sound. Their invention was attributed to Cebel, and hence their use in feasts and sacrifices; but setting aside this occasion, they were seldom used except by dissolute and effeminate people. M. Lampe, who has written expressly on the subject, attributes the invention of these instruments to the Curetes, or inhabitants of Mount Ida, in Crete; and it is certain they, as well as the Corybantes or guards of the kings of Crete, and those of Rhodes and Samothrace, were reputed to excel in the music of the cymbal.

The Jews had their cymbals, or at least instruments which translators render cymbals; but as to their matter and form, critics are by no means agreed. The modern cymbal is a mean instrument, chiefly in use among vagrants, gypsies, and such like persons. It consists of steel wire arranged in a triangular form, whereupon are passed five rings, which are touched and shifted along the triangle with an iron rod held in the left hand, while it is supported in the right by a ring, to give it the freer motion. Durandus states that the monks used the word cymbal for the cloister-bell used to call them to the refectory.