ABSTRACT
Cymbals are one of the most ancient of all percussion instruments. eir ancestry can be found in the most primitive, idiophonic order of instruments, one that includes rattles, clappers, sticks, and castanets. Cymbals were in use in Israel by about 1100 b.c. but did not appear in Egypt until approximately 800 b.c.; there they had large central bosses and at rims. In Europe cymbals appear intermittently from the thirteenth century on, although they had been imported earlier.
