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A limestone sistrum, an Egyptian musical instrument. Typically, a sistrum consisted of a rectangular frame attached to a handle. Thin metal bars bent at the edge were strung horizontally through holes in the frame; sometimes miniature cymbals were also strung along the wires. Shaking the handle of the instrument produced a jingling sound. The hieroglyphic inscription on this sistrum has yet to be fully deciphered. Ekron came under Egyptian rule about 630 B.C.E. Its hegemony was short-lived, however; Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia conquered Ekron, as he was to conquer Jerusalem 16 years later, in 603 B.C.E.