Much of what we know of the lives of musicians in Roman Egypt comes from the evidence of documentary papyri-the texts of daily life that involve musicians in some way. Contracts engaging musicians to perform at festivals survive and show the kinds of wages earned by performers as well as the duties expected of them. Representations of musicians, such as the figurines of women playing the tympanum (drum) and the military trumpeter, supplement the evidence of surviving instruments and give further insight into how musicians performed. The players of stringed instruments are poorly represented in the artifactual record, but papyri (such as the rules for a musical contest involving the kithara-a harplike instrument) and representations of the playing of such instruments from other cultures help flesh out our understanding of them.