(_b_) =Figures of actors and masks.=--In tragedy the actors probably wore a dress differing from that of the spectators only in a certain richness of material and colour, and in an adherence to the fashion of an earlier period. Two features, however, distinguished them in appearance from ordinary men, the buskin ([Greek: kothornos]) or high-soled boot, and the tragic mask. The use of the former (which increased in height as time went on) was due to a desire to enhance the wearer's dignity by raising him somewhat above the common height of men. The wearing of the mask was brought about chiefly by tradition, partly by the great size of ancient theatres, which rendered some easily recognized type of face a practical necessity. The tragic mask (fig. 22 below, right) was usually surmounted by a high projection over the forehead, called the _onkos_, on which the hair was raised to a height varying with the social position of the character. The mask illustrated (No. =56=) is of ivory and finely worked. It is a mask such as would have been worn by some king in tragedy, an Agamemnon or a Kreon. The general appearance of a tragic actor is finely brought before us by an ivory statuette (not in the Museum) which was found near Rieti, a place about 35 miles N.E. of Rome (fig. 19). The elaborately embroidered robe is coloured blue, and the _onkos_, mask, and buskins are clearly seen. (_Mon. dell' Inst._ xi. pl. 13.) [Illustration: FIG 22.--COMIC, SATYRIC, AND TRAGIC MASKS (NOS. 65, 66, 56). Ca. 5:8.]