Gina Borromeo

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Finely made of an apple-green glassy material, this object looks like a sculpture. How could it be a rattle? Where would you hold it? What sound would it make?

It is, more precisely, a sistrum (from the Greek word seistron, meaning “that which is shaken”), a percussion instrument most often associated with ancient Egypt. A handle, now missing, originally extended vertically from the bottom. Looking at the piece in profile reveals three holes on each side; movable rods holding metal disks would have been inserted through these holes. The Egyptian word for this type of sistrum is sesheshet; the spoken word mimics the rustling sound these objects make when shaken. Usually made of bronze or wood, sistra were shaken by priestesses during religious ceremonies and dances honoring certain goddesses such as Hathor—the goddess of music, happiness, and celebrations depicted on the base of this sistrum. Made of a ceramic material known as Egyptian faience, this was probably a ritual or votive object associated with a pharaoh. Pharaohs were sometimes depicted holding sistra, and some faience sistra handles are inscribed with names of pharaohs.

Long locks of hair frame Hathor’s face. She wears a broad collar, a type of necklace worn by both men and women in ancient Egypt. Above her head is an open shrine (naos) with a row of rearing cobras (uraei)—symbols of divine power and protection. The larger uraeus in the shrine’s doorway signifies the sun god Re, father of Hathor, and might recount the myth of an angry Hathor transforming herself into the eye of Re and attempting, without success, to destroy mankind. Goddess of fertility and motherhood and the protector of the ruler, Hathor was a deity who had to be appeased.

Cows and bulls were widely venerated in Egyptian culture, and several Egyptian goddesses were associated with cows, but none more so than Hathor, whose earthly manifestation was a cow. The triangular face and elongated ears in this depiction hint at her bovine nature. Egyptian gods were also represented as falcons, ibises, lions, and cats, and deities of the sky, earth, rivers, mountains, and cities often appeared in human form. Still others were hybrid in form, possessing the head of a human and the body of an animal or vice-versa. The head was the primary, essential element of the god, with the body describing the secondary aspect. Rare is the Egyptian deity who was represented in human, animal, and hybrid forms, but this was true of Hathor.

Hathor was also known as the mistress of faience, a material the Egyptians called tjehnet, meaning that which is scintillating and brilliant, like the light of the sun, moon, and stars. This representation, in form and material, thus embodies several of Hathor’s many roles: cow goddess; daughter of the sun god, Re; a potentially vengeful deity who must be pacified; protector of rulers; patron of joy, music, and celebrations; goddess of the sky; and mistress of faience.