The inventories of Delos record items deposited every year in the Delian sanctuaries. “Item” does not necessarily mean “offering”, however, and “offering” does not necessarily mean “ritual item”. The confusion between these terms has long been maintained but the study of votive practices through epigraphic sources questions the idea of “all sacred” and forces us to consider the Delian catalogs differently. The expression “ritual item” must be tempered regarding the offerings recorded in the inventories, which can play more than one role : a daily object can thus be used for the performance of a ritual before being  dedicated. These multiple layers will be discussed in an attempt to understand if an offering can be a ritual object.