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Sistrum
sššWhat it actually depicts
A handle, often shaped as the head of Hathor with cow's ears, carrying a loop strung with metal discs that rattle.
What it meant
The sound itself. Shaking it was thought to pacify a dangerous goddess and to please a god.
Where you see it
Held by priestesses and by queens in temple scenes. In the hands of Hathor, Isis and Bastet.
What gets said that is wrong
Treated as a decorative instrument. It is a functional ritual object, and it belongs to the same complex as the beer, the music and the dancing that calm the raging goddess in the Destruction of Mankind and the Distant Goddess.
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