sistrum

Sistrum


 * Egyptian Name:**

//Sesheshet//


 * Hieroglyphics:**



The sistrum was basically a rattle comprising an arch (an inverted U-shaped section) with a handle attached. The arch had a number of cross pieces onto which were threaded metal discs or loops. When the sistrum was shaken, the discs rattled. The sound was liked to the rattling of a papyrus plant. Sistrums were made of bronze, brass, silver, wood, gold, or faience. Favorite motifs were cats, cobras, and the head of Hathor, Goddess of Music, or Isis.

Sistrums were used in religious ceremonies and rituals, and were particularly associated with the worship of Egyptian goddesses Hathor, Bast, Bat, and Isis. The instrument, carried in tomb and temple scenes, symbolized adoration in general and was only played by women. It was believed that the sound of the sistrum drove away evil, halted the flooding of the Nile, and repulsed the god Set.

The similarity between the shape of the sistrum and that of the //Ankh// meant that, like the //Ankh//, it came to represent life. Amulets of sistrums were worn for good luck. During the festival of Hathor, the priestesses of the goddess would go from door to door shaking Menats and sistrums to endow the occupants of each house with the favors of life, health, and rebirth. The hieroglyphic of a sistrum was the symbol for "music."


 * Outside of Egypt:**

The sistrum continued to be used in Egypt well after the rule of the pharaohs. By the time of the Greek author Plutarch, around the first or second century C.E., the arch of the sistrum had come to symbolize the lunar cycle and the sistrum's bars, the elements.

Similar rattles are used in the rituals of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church to this day.

Musical Instruments