The music

We know little about the music in ancient Egypt. The musical writing will in fact be invented only by the Greek, but anyway other kinds of documents help us: musical instruments and representations of musicians. The instruments are the harp (of the kind rather similar, for the number of strings and case, to our concert harp), the lute and the simple or double oboe (described incorrectly as a flute), the lyre and the triangle imported from the East, and finally the tambourine and the castanets. The sistro in Egypt is peculiar, associated to the goddess of joy Hathor and exported already around 1500 BC to Crete. It was made of bronze, with a plate curved in U shape fastened on a handle, with wide holes in which the small bars went through, which were bent at the ends; shaking the instrument, the small bars moved in the holes producing the sound of a rattle. There also was the trumpet, used by the militaries: in short, to give the orders and played only by a single trumpeter, and in long, of silver, played by heralds in squad. In the representations of gatherings of the New Reign, there are always one or more harpists who play and sing, or an instrumental trio formed by a harp, an oboe and a lute, to which the lyre is later added; the performances were accompanied by the clapping of hands. The sistro, the tambourine and the castanets, which were played holding in each hand only one plate, instead appear in the processions and in the public celebrations.