Many objects ago on the History of the Classical World we had another dramatic mask – a tragic mask made of bronze, made in the Hellenistic period (i.e. 4th-2nd cents BCE) but imitating classical Athenian models. This mask is quite different. Not only is it made of terracotta rather than bronze – you will notice at once that the facial expression and style marks it as a comic mask. Here the mouth is curved up in a slight smile, the cheeks are tensed in exaggerated jollity, and the eyebrows are raised. However, this is not a classical Athenian-type comic mask – which normally has a wide, open mouth and highly exaggerated features – but represents rather a later style of comedy which flourished from the 4th century BCE on, called 'New Comedy', and which seems to have been especially popular among the Greek colonies of South Italy. This type of comedy, pioneered by a dramatist called Menander, featured stock characters like "The Flatterer" (Kolax, in Greek), "The Parasite", "The Slave", "The Prostitute" and so on, and engaged in formulaic plots often involving situational comedy and character satire. The mask above is typical of "The Flatterer" type, with its subtle smile and lidded eyes – note the holes in the top of the mask, where it would have been fastened to the head, and traces of paint remaining on the cheeks and hair.
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