It would require too much space to enumerate all the =subjects= represented in the terracotta statuettes. But it may be found convenient to give an outline of the subjects and principal types adopted at different periods.[423] Roughly speaking, the range of subjects may be divided into seven groups: (1) figures of deities; (2) mythological subjects; (3) scenes from daily life; (4) imitations of works of art; (5) caricatures; (6) masks; (7) animals. Among the figures of the Olympian deities we find most commonly Demeter, Aphrodite, and Artemis; Hephaistos, Ares, and Hestia are seldom if ever represented; Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, and even Athena are also very rare. Of the inferior deities, Dionysos, Persephone, Eros, and Nike (Victory) are most frequently found, as well as Satyrs and similar personages. Nor is it always easy to ascertain definitely whether a figure is or is not intended to be mythological in significance. This question is, in fact, closely bound up with that of the Uses for which the statuettes were made, as on such a purpose their interpretation in a mythological or human sense may largely depend. The uncertainty of identification arises from the practice which obtained of adhering closely to certain recognised _types_, which occur repeatedly at all periods. There is a strong probability that a clear distinction was not recognised by the Greek κοροπλάσται, but that the same type of figure might be used either for a votive offering to a deity, or as a mere ornament or article of tomb-furniture. And we are further met with the fact that a type which was mythological at one period ceases to be so at another, or at any rate is transformed by some slight alteration of details or omission of an attribute. Thus the seated figure of an Earth-goddess or Nursing-mother of a Rhodian or Cypriote tomb becomes the nurse and child of the fourth century at Tanagra, while the archaic standing type of a Persephone holding a flower requires little but the omission of her special head-dress to transform her into the girl-type of the Hellenistic age. ------------------------------------------------------ PLATE VIII [Illustration: ARCHAIC GREEK TERRACOTTAS (BRITISH MUSEUM). 1. MAN WITH RAM (RHODES); 2. PERSEPHONE (SICILY); 3. RHODES; 4. DOLL (ATHENS). ] ------------------------------------