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Zills are one of the main percussive elements of Middle Eastern belly dancing.

First representations of "modern" finger cymbal players in Egypt and Turkey date from the 18th century at the latest. At least, it is clear that the tradition of dancers with different types of clappers continued through the Middle Ages. It is not known whether the finger cymbal practice was continuous or was forgotten and then reinvented much later in the Middle East. Examples of mosaics and stone reliefs showing Roman finger cymbal players come from Bulgaria, Italy and Belgium, and are dated between the second and fourth century CE. The finger cymbal practice appears in representations from the Roman Empire period. From known representations, ancient Greeks used metallic cymbals, but they held only one cymbal in each hand and clapped them together to strike them. Ancient Greek potteries depict men and women celebrating at Dionysian festivals, some of them playing krotala. One of the earliest forms of clappers are wooden krotala already present in Greece around 500 BC. Modern dancers use varieties of zills, finger cymbals or castanets. The clapper family also includes spoons, bones and castanets. Clappers come in pairs and are often held in the hands, fastened together, or strapped to the performer's fingers. Clappers are musical instruments made of wood, bone, metal, and other substances that are played by being struck against each other. Zills, or finger cymbals, are part of a family of musical instruments known as clappers. Names in other languages include nuqaisāt (after the naqus) in Arabic and used among Berbers, ṣunnūj ṣaghīra in Arabic, Zang-e sarangoshti (Persian, possibly related to the zang), sanj angshati (سنج انگشتی) (Persian, related to Sanj), çeng in Turkish, p'eng chung in Chinese. In Western music, several pairs can be set in a frame to make a tambourine. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. They are called sāgāt ( ‏ صاجات‎) in Egypt. Zills or zils (from Turkish zil 'cymbals'), also called finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances.