There can be little doubt that they were in reality quite straight, though sometimes they have been awkwardly represented as crooked by the artist.
The tambourine of the Assyrian was round, like that in common use at the present day; not square, like the ordinary Egyptian.

It seems to have consisted simply of a skin stretched on a circular frame, and to have been destitute altogether of the metal rings or balls which produce the jingling sound of the modern instrument.

It was held at bottom by the left hand in a perpendicular position, and was struck at the side with the fingers of the right.

[PLATE CXXIX., Fig.

1.] [Illustration: PLATE 129] Assyrian cymbals closely resembled those in common use throughout the East at the present day.