Tambour is one of the oldest mystical Iranian instruments. The age of this instrument is unknown.

There are many books and papers about this. Grove Dictionary is Instrumentalism. In this dictionary, it is stated that the instrument dating back to five or six thousand years ago. Near Mosul city, stone sculptures in museums and remained antiquities in Shoosh and Bani Yunis Hills dated back to 1500 to 2000 BC. In Ardashir Babkan's record, one of the Pahlavi texts said that Ardeshir sat in the orphanage and he played tambour and sing. There are legendary sayings which said about Rustam playing tambour in the fourth labor. Tambour has been interpreted as an ancient Persian Cittern which was played by Khosrow Parviz during the Sassanid period and before. Tambour, its types, its intervals, and tunings elaborated extensively in Moosighi Al-Kebir's music book. Ibn Sina, Abdul Qader Maraghi, and Safieddin Ermawi are also among them.

The works of great Persian poets and mystics such as Sheikh Janid Baghdadi, Ferdowsi, Molavi, Manouchehri, Damghani, Nezami Ganjavi, Mousavi, Hafez, Vahid Qazvini, Bidel Dehlavi, and Vafa Kermanshahi have mentioned Tambour frequently.

Hence philosophers have said that we received these harmonies from the revolution of the (celestial) sphere,

(And that) this (melody) which people sing with pandore and throat is the sound of the revolutions of the sphere;

“Rumi”

Today, Tambour is common throughout Iran, but it’s mainly played in Kermanshah provinces, especially in the city of Goran, Kurdistan region, and the northern areas of Lorestan. The instrument is known in these areas as Temire, Tomeireh, Temure, and Temur.

In a Kurdish region of Turkey called Diyarbakir, there is a kind of Tambour called Baqlama with a large bowl, 5 strings, and about 20 common frets which is played with plectrum.