A group of terracotta statuettes from Athens (Sixth Room, Case L) gives a vivid picture of the actors of the Old Comedy, that of Aristophanes and his contemporaries. By a convention of the stage, all comic actors, even those who played young women’s parts, were grotesquely padded, and over the padding male characters wore an elastic woolen covering much like the modern jersey, which is represented by dots in the statuettes. The man’s chiton was always ridiculously short. Women wore the long chiton and himation. On examining these figures we see that they include certain stock characters which were used over and over by playwrights. The figure on the left hand in the lowest row represents an old man, probably an irascible old father. His mask is made so as to present a kindly expression on one side and an angry one on the other. The actor turned to the audience the side which expressed his feelings at the moment. The statuette at the left of the top row seems to be of the same general type. The right-hand figure in the top row is Herakles (fig. 20); that on the right hand of the lowest row is probably Odysseus, both favorite comic characters. Another represents a slave who has stolen a purse and has taken refuge at an altar upon which he sits weighing his pelf in both hands (fig. 16). Besides these there are a young woman and a middle-aged matron, an old nurse with a baby, and a street vendor with a basket. The scheming slave, another stock character of ancient comedy, stands in a thoughtful attitude at the left hand of the second row from the top. In the Seventh Room (Case H 2) is a bronze statuette of an actor in the New Comedy (fig. 19). The ridiculous dress of the earlier period has been discarded for a fringed himation, but the mask is still worn. This actor seems to be declaiming a passage “full of sound and fury” accompanied by sweeping gestures. [Illustration: FIG. 19. ACTOR IN NEW COMEDY] In the same case is a statuette of an actor of mimes or pantomimes, in itself a masterpiece of the grotesque (fig. 18). These performances were generally satires upon contemporary life, and were immensely popular in Greece and Italy, being sometimes provided as entertainment for guests after dinner. The actors did not wear masks and probably relied much upon gestures and facial play for their effects. [Illustration: FIG. 20. COMIC ACTOR AS HERAKLES]