• latw-135-1
    Gold rattle. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)
  • latw-135-2
    Gold rattle. (Courtesy of the Vedat Nedim Tör Museum, Istanbul)

Gold rattle

Date
Early fifth century BC?, Late Lydian (Persian)
Museum
Istanbul, Archaeological Museum, 4562
Museum Inventory No.
4562
Sardis or Museum Inv. No.
IAM 4562
Material
Gold
Object Type
Metalwork
Metalwork Type
Miscellaneous
Site
Sardis
Sector
Nec
Trench
Butler Tomb 213
Locus
Butler Tomb 213
Description
Hollow gold spool-shaped rattle. Cylinder, concave in profile, capped at either end by slightly convex disks. Disks are decorated with concentric circles of fine gold wire. A narrow gold cylinder forms a central tube, opening through holes in the disk caps. Inside the spool are 27 gold pellets, which rattled when the spool was shaken. Diameter of disks 0.053 m, length of cylinder 0.032 m, weight 62.5 g.
Comments
From Tomb 213 at Sardis. A pair of similar gold rattles was found in the Toptepe Tumulus (No. 174), and another pair in the Tilkitepe Tumulus near Alaşehir. The uses of these objects are uncertain; attached to the end of wooden rods, they might have served as noisemakers.
See Also
Baughan, “Lydian Burial Customs”.
Bibliography
Curtis 1925, no. 85.
Author
NDC