Short answers, pulled from the story.
The earliest known image of a circular frame drum dates to the 8th century BC. A bronze votive disc discovered in a cave on Crete shows one of these images carved by ancient artisans for religious offerings to Zeus.
Worshippers carried the tympanum within the thiasos retinue of Dionysus. A maenad typically held and played the drum during processions while satyrs accompanied her with wind instruments like pipes or the aulos.
Artists depicted the goddess Cybele holding the tympanum on her left arm starting in the 6th century BC. She often sat with a lion resting on her lap or standing nearby, and this image appeared frequently in Greek and Roman art but never in Anatolian sources where she originated.
The instrument arrived in Rome from Greece and the Near East around the same time cults spread westward. Religious leaders imported the practice along with statues and priests from Asia Minor during political changes in the late Republic period.
Local artisans began copying foreign designs using available materials like wood and animal hide. Some versions included small metal rings attached around the edge for extra percussion while others remained shallow with simple rim designs.