Lyre ou sistre ? : Petit malentendu à propos d'un objet en bronze de Berthouville (Gaule Belgique)

The excavations of the sanctuary at Berthouville (department of Eure), led by Le Metayer-Masselin, uncovered a small bronze object which was handed over to the Musée des Antiquités Nationales in 1862. Since then, the item has been exhibited on numerous occasions as a sistrum, although it is, in fact, a lyre set on top of a column. This Apollonian motif is well known in sculpture. Similar objects in bronze, from Vidy-Lausanne (Upper Germania), Corfinium (Italy) and Carnuntum (Pannonia), show that this type of votive offering is not unusual in Gaul and the type of instrument can be described either as a lyre or a cithara.