CISTA

( κίστη ). (1) A small box or chest, in which anything might be placed, but more particularly applied to the small boxes which were carried in proce ion in the festivals of Demeter and Dionysus. These boxes, which were always kept closed in the public proce ions, contained sacred things connected with the worship of these deities. In the representations of Dionysiac proce ions on ancient vases women carrying cistae are frequently introduced.—(2) The ballot-box, into which those who voted in the comitia and in the courts of justice cast their tabellae. It is represented in the annexed cut, and should not be confounded with the situla or sitella , into which sortes or lots were thrown. [ Situla . ]