{{Short description|Container used in Antiquity}} {{About||the British political party CISTA|Cannabis is Safer Than Alcohol|various locations in the Czech Republic|Čistá (disambiguation){{!}}Čistá}} [[Image: Etruscan - Cista Depicting a Dionysian Revel and Perseus with Medusa's Head - Walters 54136.jpg |thumb|Cista Depicting a Dionysian Revel and Perseus with Medusa's Head<ref>{{cite web |publisher= The Walters Art Museum|url= http://art.thewalters.org/detail/5608|title= Cista Depicting a Dionysian Revel and Perseus with Medusa's Head }}</ref> The Walters Art Museum.]]
A '''cista''' is a box or basket used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans and Romans for various practical and mystical purposes.
==Purpose and usage== thumb|Cista on a coin [[File:Urne cinerarie romane a cista, 02.jpg|thumb|upright|Roman cista cinerary urn ]] The ''cista'' or ''cistella'' was at first thought be a wicker basket used for holding fruits and vegetables and for general agricultural purposes. Although these baskets were sometimes square, they were more often cylindrical in shape. Over time, ''cista'' came to mean a smaller box or casket employed for a variety of purposes. This distinguished it from the larger ''arca'' or chest; on rare occasions, it may have been used in referring to a ''capsa'', or book-box. The cista believed to be in the private treasure of Gaius Verres may have been a money-box.
In the Roman ''comitia'', the cista was the ballot-box into which the voters cast their ''tabellae''. The form and material of the voters' cista, evidently of wicker or similar work, is represented in an annexed cut from a coin of the Cassia gens. In this sense, the cista has often been confused with the ''sitella'', or urn, from which the names of the tribes or centuries were drawn out by lot.
Another class of cistae, well known from vase paintings and from a number of preserved metal specimens, are the toilet- or jewel-cases of Italian ladies, often mentioned in connection with children's trinkets, and often recognized in ancient comedies. In vase paintings, such cistae are often accompanied by other requisites for the toilet such as mirrors and scent-bottles, making clear their use as toiletry receptacles.<ref>''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'' (1890)</ref>
==Cultic uses== A {{lang|la|cista mystica}} (secret casket) is a sacred object thought to have originated in ancient Egypt. It is usually made of reeds (papyrus) and used in the Khoiak ritual of Denderah. Inside the box was a vase, and inside the vase was the head of Osiris, a canopic box containing the viscera of the dead god.<ref>''Voss, M.'' (1979), ''The {{lang|la|cista mystica}} in the cult and mysteries of Isis'', Leiden: Brill.</ref> Concrete evidence concerning the {{langr|la|cista mystica}} of Isis is scarce. In Roman times, Plutarch gives an account of the pouring of drinking water into a golden casket inside the {{langr|la|cista}}, while the congregation shouts “Osiris has been found.”
In ancient Greek mystery cults, the {{lang|la|cistra mystica}} were wicker-work boxes which seem to have contained a live serpent, as represented in numerous ancient images, including coins on which a {{langr|la|cista}} is shown half-open with a serpent creeping out of it. These {{langr|la|cistra}} were sometimes oblong, but more frequently cylindrical, for example, as represented in a statue of Silenus sitting on a large drum-shaped {{langr|la|cista}}, holding a wine-jug in his hand. {{lang|la|Cistra mystica}} were also carried in procession in the Greek festivals of Demeter and Dionysus—these boxes were always kept closed in public, and contained sacred items connected with the worship of these deities. The {{lang|la|cista mystica}} was also known to be sacred to Bacchus, but similar cult objects were probably also affiliated with Isis. In the Bacchic mysteries, the serpent was carried on a bed of grape leaves and was used as a stand-in for the god. The characteristic form of the serpent was an important component of the symbolism, and classical sources note it shares its shape with “the forms of men.”<ref> {{lang|la|Cista Mystica}}, (2012, June 8). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from https://ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/cista-mystica/</ref><ref>Charles Townley's {{lang|la|cista mystica}}, (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2015, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/britain/enlightenment_religion/charles_townleys_cista_mystica.aspx</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
Retrieved March 2, 2015, from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=cista-cn
== External links == {{Commonscat}} *[http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Cista%20or%20Cista%20Mystica Cistae mysticae in numismatics] *[http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/o/ophites.html Ophites] *[https://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/republic_firstcent.html Roman Republican Coins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301021650/http://www.usask.ca/antiquities/coins/republic_firstcent.html |date=2009-03-01 }} *[http://esty.ancients.info/numis/pergam.htm Coin with cista mystica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210072213/http://esty.ancients.info/numis/pergam.htm |date=2016-12-10 }} *[https://archive.today/20121223200029/http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/cm/s/silver_cistophorus_of_augustus.aspx Photo of coin from the British Museum]
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Category:Ornaments Category:Containers