Abstract

The study of the ways of presentation and conservation of the ex-votos deposited in the Delian sanctuaries and recorded in the annual inventories, reveals two interesting phenomena in the functioning of sacred stewardship: The ingenuity of the donors and administrators in combining the requirements of display and arrangement and in their descriptions of them in the catalogues through the use of a rich vocabulary and strict syntax, can thus be underlined. Over the years one can also glimpse an evolution in attitude, evidenced in the more sophisticated and striking presentation of offerings, to the detriment sometimes of the sobre piety that surrounded them at the beginning of Delian independence.