Crossword clues for sistrum
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sistrum \Sis"trum\, [L., fr. Gr. ???, from ??? to shake.] (Mus.) An instrument consisting of a thin metal frame, through which passed a number of metal rods, and furnished with a handle by which it was shaken and made to rattle. It was peculiarly Egyptian, and used especially in the worship of Isis. It is still used in Nubia.
Wiktionary
n. An ancient Egyptian musical instrument, to be shaken, consisting of a metal frame holding percussive metal beads.
Wikipedia
thumb|upright=1.2|A sekhem-style sistrum
A sistrum (plural: sistrums or Latin sistra; from the Greek seistron of the same meaning; literally "that which is being shaken", from seiein, "to shake") is a musical instrument of the percussion family, chiefly associated with ancient Iraq and Egypt. It consists of a handle and a U-shaped metal frame, made of brass or bronze and between 30 and 76 cm in width. When shaken the small rings or loops of thin metal on its movable crossbars produce a sound that can be from a soft clank to a loud jangling. Its name in the ancient Egyptian language was sekhem (sḫm) and sesheshet (sššt). Sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum, while sesheshet (an onomatopoeic word) is the naos-shaped one.
Usage examples of "sistrum".
Egyptology led me to associate them with the flute, the sambuke, the sistrum, and the tympa num.
Egyptology led me to associate them with the flute, the sambuke, the sistrum, and the tympanum.
Greek shrine in Delphi, gold caducei wands, hundreds of Tjet ankhs resembling small standing angels, sistrum rattles used in ancient Egypt to dispel evil spirits, and an astonishing array of statues depicting Horus being nursed by the goddess Isis.
Not only did Saunière have a personal passion for relics relating to fertility, goddess cults, Wicca, and the sacred feminine, but during his twenty-year tenure as curator, Saunière had helped the Louvre amass the largest collection of goddess art on earth—labrys axes from the priestesses' oldest Greek shrine in Delphi, gold caducei wands, hundreds of Tjet ankhs resembling small standing angels, sistrum rattles used in ancient Egypt to dispel evil spirits, and an astonishing array of statues depicting Horus being nursed by the goddess Isis.
He peeked carefully through a tiny gap between the curtain and the doorpost, as he heard the chiming sound of sistrums and the footsteps of many people.
With a last shake of the sistrums, the priests dropped their arms as one, and filed out the door, as solemnly as they had come.
Chanting and setting spells of protection, accompanied by little priestesses with sistrums and boys with drums, it appeared that they were determined to cover every corridor of the compound, and in the process, get in everyone's way.
Like the bells of crystal on the sistrums of Isis at Dendarah Temple,' he added half-dreamily.
When they shook their tambourines and sistrums, in voluptuous poses, feudal barons found them irresistible, but that made them all the more hateful in the eyes of the pious and grave, a reaction that was for Alobar a source of endless delight.
Forty women, draped only in strings of colorful beads, tootled reed flutes, plucked harps, rattled sistrums, thumped drums, clacked bone clappers, and clanged bronze cymbals.
They were chanting and shaking sistrums over the brazier in one corner in which cauterizing tongs glowed red hot.