History and Development

The Greek tragedy masks were first created in Athens around the time of 532 BC, and were made by a person called Thespis (Born in Icaria and first actor of Greece). The Greek Tragedy Mask represent the muse of tragedy which is Melopomene.The Greek tragedy Mask originated from the dithyramb: a choral song in honor of Dionysos. The Greek Tragedy Masks were used in plays that dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the relationships between men and gods. The major ancient Greek writers of tragedy that included the use of the Greek tragedy masks were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Aeschylus: Aeschylus was the first of the ancient Greek writers of tragedy, which included Greek Tragedy masks. He was born at Eleusis; he lived from about 525-456 B.C. He won 28 prizes due to his use of the ancient Greek tragedy masks in his plays, and was first of the famous trio (Sophocles and Euripides)

Sophocles: He lived from 496-406 B.C. Sophocles grew up in the town of Colonus, just outside Athens. During his long life Sophocles earned 20 prizes for 1st place. He was also famous for how he used Greek tragedy masks to make his plays more effective on the audience), and the second of the famous trio (Euripides and Aeschylus)

Euripides: Euripides was an ancient writer of Greek tragedy plays (involved Greek tragedy masks), and the third of the famous trio (Sophocles and Aeschylus). He lived from 484-407 B.C., and He wrote plays about women and mythological themes, like Medea and The Helen Of Troy. He was interested with Greek Tragedy Mask and Greek Tragedy plays. Euripides won only four more first prizes, due to his methods of using Greek Tragedy masks in his Greek Tragedy plays.

The first 6 Greek tragedy masks that were made were six masks of old men: The oldest one was called Xyrias (character who was presented shaved in clue of bereavements). Then, comes Lefkos (White) and Spartopolios. Those three characters are personalities that suffer. The next person Melas Anir symbolizes the masculine man. The two characters that follow are Xanthos Anir (Blonde man) and Xanthoteros Anir (Blonder man).

The Ancient Greek Tragedy Mask served several important purposes in Ancient Greek theater their exaggerated expressions helped define the characters the actors were playing; they allowed actors to play more than one role; they helped audience members in the distant seats to see. The masks were more life-like, which was good since it made the performances more realistic. It was also good because the performances had greater impacts on the audience.

The ancient Greeks invented three types of plays. Tragedies always had a sad ending. Comedies always had a happy ending and satires poked fun at real people and events. (In ancient Greece, it was illegal to poke fun at the gods. Punishment for mocking the gods was death.) Comedies and tragedies entertained many people.

 The plays that involved using the Greek Tragedy Mask were told in two different ways at the same time. The story was told out loud by a Greek chorus, and the performers who did not speak acted out, and told the story mainly using their masks and gestures. In some performances the actor would play several different roles, all he had to do was switch masks. 

The Greek Tragedy plays  (involving Greek tragedy masks) were usually performed for cleansing of the soul, a part of an estimated 5-day Athenian religious festival, competitions, and gifts. The plays were mainly performed on end of March, various dates in December and sometimes in late January or early February. Most tragedy plays were about a tragic hero who suffers misfortune, and tragedy masks were used to amplify the affect of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and loss on the audience. These plays were really important to  Greek men and women because it would take their minds of reality, which at times were good since some Greeks lived difficult lives. Most people who would attend these plays would be women since many men were usually busy. The cost for the play was the average daily wage of a laborer.

The Greek Tragedy masks have had made major developments throughout history. These major developments are the mask are have more detailed features which is good since it increases the impact of tragedy on the audience, the mask has safety features which protects the person's face since in 400-700 B.C people had a lot of health problems from their masks because of the certain materials used to build the mask. Another development of not only the Greek Tragedy mask, but all masks is that there have been rules created when your performing using a mask such as no speaking while wearing the mask, always put and take of your mask away from the audience, don't touch the mask while wearing it, and never move or talk in your mask. Overall I think these developments are good because they increase the impact the masks have on the audience.