Cymbala. (From a Bas-relief in the Vatican.)
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 crotalistriae. Such was Virgil’s Copa:
“Crispum sub crotalo docta movere latus.”
The line alludes to the dance with crotala (similar to castanets).—For sistrum, which some have referred to the class of cymbala, see [Sistrum].
Crotala. (Borghese Vase now in the Louvre.)
D
DACTỸLUS (δάκτυλος), a Greek measure, answering to the Roman digitus, each signifying a finger-breadth, and being the sixteenth part of a foot. [[Pes].]
DAEDALA or DAEDĂLEIA (δαίδαλα, δαιδάλεια), names used by the Greeks to signify those early works of art which were ascribed to the age of Daedalus, and especially the ancient wooden statues, ornamented with gilding and bright colours and real drapery, which were the earliest known forms of the images of the gods, after the mere blocks of wood or stone, which were at first used for symbols of them.