Seriously Sistrum

Sistre de Henouttaouy. Période : troisième période intermédiaire (vers 1069-664 av J.-C.). Lieu de découverte : Egypte (origine). Paris, musée du Louvre

Explore the British Museum collection and journey through two million years of human history.

bronze ceremonial rattle (sistrum); first or second century CE This sistrum, allegedly found in the Tiber River at Rome, was probably used by a priest or priestess of Isis. The decoration at the top portrays the she-wolf licking Romulus or Remus, perhaps suggesting an effort to "Romanize" the imported Egyptian rituals of Isis. London, British Museum. Credits: Barbara McManus, 2006

A blog about everything in the Ancient World, run by history graduates from different fields.

Arc Sistrum 664-332 BC Late Period, Egypt (Source: The Metropolitan Museum)

Isis, Roman statue (marble), 2nd century AD, (Musei Capitolini, Rome).

Priestess of Isis with sistrum, from the Temple of Isis, Pompeii

Depicted with cow features, the goddess Hathor was associated with sexuality, motherhood, and music. This sistrum, or rattle, is a masterwork of Egyptian faience, which is particularly fitting, as Hathor was also known as "mistress of faience."

Faience 'naos'-type sistrum decorated with the human- bovine face of Hathor. 26th Dynasty. British Museum.

The sistrum was one of the most sacred musical instruments in ancient Egypt and was believed to hold powerful magical properties. It was used in the worship of the goddess Hathor, mythological character of joy, festivity, fertility, eroticism and dance. It was also shaken to avert the flooding of the Nile and to frighten away Seth, the god of the desert, storms, disorder, and violence.

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A ritual rattle, called a sistrum, was played by temple singers in ancient Egypt. It is decorated with the head of the goddess Hathor, who was known as the Lady of Music. 3rd-1st centuries B.C

Egypt: Hathor's Sistrum

AN EGYPTIAN FAIENCE SISTRUM HANDLE Late Period, Dynasty XXVI, Reign of Amasis, 570-526 B.C.

SISTRUM AMULET Faience Late-Ptolemaic periods (525-30 BCE) Egypt