CYMBĂLUM

( κύμβαλον ), a musical instrument, in the shape of two half globes, which were held one in each hand by the performer, and played by being struck against each other. The word is derived from κύμβος , a hollow. The cymbal was a very ancient instrument, being used in the worship of Cybelé, Bacchus, Juno, and all the earlier deities of the Grecian and Roman mythology. It probably came from the East. The crotalum ( κρόταλον ) was a kind of cymbal. It appears to have been a split reed or cane, which clattered when shaken with the hand. Women who played on the crotalum were termed crotal i striae . Such was Virgil’s Copa: “Crispum sub crotalo docta movere lat us.” The line alludes to the dance with crotala (similar to castanets).—For sistrum , which some have referred to the cla of cymbal a , see Sistrum . IMG:6459379820872971714_ill126b.jpg: Crotala. (Borghese Vase now in the Louvre.) d DACTỸLUS ( δάκτυλος ), a Greek measure, answering to the Roman digit us , each signifying a finger-breadth , and being the sixteenth part of a foot. [ Pes . ]