Pinax

In the culture of ancient Greece and Magna Graecia, a pinax (πίναξ) (plural pinakes - πίνακες) or a "board", denotes a votive tablet of painted wood, terracotta, marble or bronze that served as a votive object deposited in a sanctuary or as a memorial affixed within a burial chamber. In daily life pinax might equally denote a wax-covered writing tablet. In Christian contexts, painted icons ("images") are pinakes. In the theatre of ancient Greece, they were colored images either carved out of stone or wood or even made of cloth that were hung in the scene as background. (The term pinacotheca for a picture gallery derives from such usages.)