Tympanum

TYMPANUM, a Timbrel, or Instrument of Musick, which is often mentioned in Scripture. The Hebrews call it Toph;¹ and I suppose under this Name they comprehend all kinds of Drums, Tabors, and Timbrels. I do not find the Hebrews made use of it in their Wars, but only at their publick Rejoicings; and it was commonly put into the Hands of Women. After the Passage of the Red Sea, Miriam, the Sister of Moses took a Tympanum, or Timbrel, and began to play and dance with the Women. The Daughter Exod. xv. 20.of Jephthah came to meet her Father with Timbrels, and other Musical Instruments. Judg. xi. 34.‘Twas probably of the same kind as those ancient Tympana, which are put into the Hands of Cybele the Mother of the Gods. Tympana habet Cybele, sunt & mihi Tympana cribri.

The ancient Marbles generally represent Cybele with a Tympanum. They used also to play on this Instrument at the Feast of Bacchus. Its Figure is not uniform, but is sometimes represented as a Tabor, with little Bells;² and at other times as an Instrument of hollow Brass, with Bells also, and a Stick to play upon it. But there does not appear to be any Skin stretched upon its Opening. At other times they are two sorts of Brazen Caps, which were struck against one another on the Sides that were open.

Tympanum, in the Sense of an Instrument of Punishment, is met with in the Greek of St. Paul to the Hebrews, xi. 35.³ Both ancient and modern Interpreters are much divided about the Sense of this Word. Some have explained it of the Tressel, or Chivalet, a Punishment very frequent in Antiquity, but very much unknown at this Day. St. Chrysostom, and the other Greek Interpreters that have followed him, and who ought to have understood the Meaning of this Word better than the Latins, thought that the Apostle, in the Place where he speaks of Tympanum, alludes to the Death of John the Baptist, and to that of St. James, who were both beheaded. Hesychius, Suidas and Oecumenius, think the Verb Tympanizin signifies to flea alive. Others,⁴ more modern, take it in a generical Sense, for all kinds of capital Punishments and violent Deaths. And it is true that the Greek Verb we are speaking of, is sometimes used in this manner.

But we think the Apostle, in the Place we are speaking of, means the Bastinado, or Punishment of the Whip, and that he makes Allusion to the Cruelties exercised upon old Eliazar, and the seven Brethren the Maccabees. The Second Book of the Maccabees,⁵ speaking of the Martyrdom of Eleazar, says, that he went to the Tympanum, and that being at the Point of expiring under the Blows of the Switches or Rods, he said, groaning; The Lord, who knows all things, knows this, that tho’ I could escape Death, yet I chuse to suffer these violent Pains in my Body, being torn with the Rods. St. Paul seems plainly to allude to this Passage, when he says, Some have suffered the Punishment of the Tympanum, not desiring to rescue themselves from this Torture, in hopes of a better Resurrection. 2 Macc. vii. 1.The seven Brethren Maccabees were also tormented with Stripes and Rods: Flagris

& tauris cruciatos. The Scholiast of Aristophanes,⁶ speaking of the Punishment of the Tympanum, says, that they called Tympana those Instruments of Wood, upon which such Criminals were whipt as were condemned by the Judges to suffer the Bastinado. This Punishment is still in use among the Eastern Countries. See the Article PUNISHMENTS.

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