Cupids or genii playing music and games.. Cupids or genii playing music and games. Above, cupids dancing while playing a 10-string lyre and crotales, a bronze percussion instrument. Below, three cupids play a game of pulling a stake from the ground. Copperplate engraved by Tommaso Piroli from his own Antichita di Ercolano (Antiquities of Herculaneum), Rome, 1789.