Fayum Ptolemaic figure

Source term: incense diffuser or bullroarer

From the Fayum of Ptolemaic Egypt comes a small hollow terracotta figure of a naked, grotesque cult-attendant who walks in procession bearing a statue of Amun-Min, the ithyphallic harvest god the Greeks called Pan. In his raised right hand he swings a reel-shaped object on a thong over his head, and here the figure turns enigmatic: is it a censer trailing smoke through the procession, or a bullroarer? If the latter, it ties this Greco-Egyptian rite to the rhombos of the Greek mysteries, the whirring instrument whose roar was likened to thunder and the voice of a god.

the bearer is naked but wears a knobbed conical hat, and swings a reel-shaped object on a thong in his right hand, an incense-diffuser or a bull-roarer.

British Museum collection record for the Fayum cult-attendant figure (description and curator's comments)

Particulars

Object

Terracotta figure shows cult attendant swinging reel-shaped object on thong

Function

Swung on a thong in a procession of Amun-Min (Pan) — an incense-diffuser, or a bullroarer.