[Sidenote: =811.=] Square votive tablet, dedicated by Anthusa, the daughter of Damainetos. On the tablet, within a raised wreath, the following objects are sculptured in relief:--In the centre is a bowl (phialè) inscribed with the dedication. Round this bowl are ranged a mirror, a torch, a spindle, a comb, a small phial, a small box with a lid containing three little circular boxes, which probably held paints; a pair of shoes; a small mortar, containing a pestle, shaped like a bent thumb; a knife, a strigil, a bottle, two bodkins, a small oval box with a lid, which probably held a sponge; a pair of shoes, and a conical object like a cap. The raised wreath which encircles these objects is composed of pomegranates, ears of corn, and ivy-berries, round which a sash is wound. Outside the wreath, on the upper right-hand corner of the tablet, a situla is sculptured in low relief, and a small footstool (?) on the lower corner on the same side. The corresponding angles on the left side of the tablet have been broken away, but the upper angle appears to have contained a situla. The relief is inscribed [Greek: Anthousê Damainetou hypostatria]. [Greek: Hypostatria] probably denotes some minister of inferior rank in the temple of the goddess to whom the tablet was dedicated. The explanation of the word [Greek: statria] given by Hesychius ([Greek: emplektria]), makes it probable that the function of the [Greek: hypostatria] here mentioned was to dress the image of the goddess. This and the tablet No. 812 were found by the Earl of Aberdeen built into a ruined Byzantine church at _Slavochori in Laconia_, a place which is believed to be the site of the ancient Amyclae. The combination of pomegranates and ears of corn, the symbols of Persephonè and Demeter, with ivy-berries and fir-cones, the symbols of Dionysos, makes it probable that in the temple in which these tablets were dedicated, these deities had a joint worship. Pausanias (iii., 20, 4) mentions a town near Amyclae called Bryseae, where was a temple of Dionysos which none but women were permitted to enter, and where women only performed the sacrifices. It is not improbable, as Lord Aberdeen conjectured, that these votive tablets were originally dedicated in this temple, and thence brought to Slavochori. It was a common custom among the Greeks to dedicate articles of female attire and toilet in the temples of goddesses. (See _Greek Inscriptions in Brit. Mus._, No. xxxiv.)--_Brought from Greece by George, fourth Earl of Aberdeen; presented by George, fifth Earl of Aberdeen, 1861._