The Ear : The Classical World

Tympanum and Eardrums

Tympanum, the eardrum, comes from the Latin word for a drum or tambourine. Tympanum is still, in architecture, the term for the triangular area of a pediment.

The medical term for a disorder that causes the abdomen to swell with gas or air like a drum is tympanites.

Temple of Hephaestus in Athens © Wikimedia Commons