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The Ancient Greek term for a mask is prosopon (lit., "face"), [16] and was a significant element in the worship of Dionysus at Athens likely used in ceremonial rites and celebrations. Many masks worshipped the higher power, the gods, making masks also very important for religion.
The so-called 'Mask of Agamemnon', a 16th-century BC mask discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae, Greece, National Archaeological Museum, Athens The word "mask" appeared in English in the 1530s, from Middle French masque "covering to hide or guard the face", derived in turn from Italian maschera, from Medieval Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare". [1]
The Mask of Agamemnon is a gold funerary mask discovered at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae in southern Greece. The mask, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens , has been described by the historian Cathy Gere as the " Mona Lisa of prehistory".
The comedy and tragedy masks are a pair of masks, one crying and one laughing, that have widely come to represent the performing arts. Originating in the theatre of ancient Greece, the masks were said to help audience members far from the stage to understand what emotions the characters were feeling. [1]
Greek tragedy is widely believed to be an extension of the ancient rites carried out in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and theatre, and it heavily influenced the theatre of Ancient Rome and the Renaissance. Tragic plots were most often based upon myths from the oral traditions of archaic epics. In tragic theatre, however, these narratives ...
Masks can also be used as a dramatic tool, e.g. lowering the masks shows reflection, raising the mask shows a challenge or superiority. The Greeks called these physical stances schemata (forms). Silent masks were used to great effect, particularly on child actors, expressing powerlessness, bewilderment, vulnerability, etc.
Supporting the view that gorgoneia originated as masks, are two groups of seventh-century BC terracotta gorgonion-like masks: a group of wearable helmet masks from Tiryns, and another group of non-wearable votive masks from the Sanctuary of Orthia at Sparta, which share some features with the typical earliest representations of Gorgon faces. If ...
In that sense, it was used in Greek theatre, since actors wore specific masks on stage, in order to reveal their character and emotional state to the audience. [8] The term prosopon had an important role in the development of theological terminology related to the Trinity and Jesus. It was the subject of many theological debates and disputes ...