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Identify some of the similarities and differences between masks in Indian genres of performance and those used in ancient Greece and Rome.

(YOU MAKE GOOD POINTS. PLEASE ADD CITATIONS NEXT TIME) ====Masks play an important role in performance genres of many regions, including ancient Greece and Rome, and India. Masks play distinct parts in Indian and Greco-Roman (ISN'T GRECO-ROMAN A PERIOD IN HISTORY AND NOT GREECE AND ROME?) theater traditions, but several comparisons can be drawn between masks in these two cultures.====

====Greco-Roman masks have proven difficult to study, largely because no remaining examples have been found. (GOOD POINT) We can only guess at the materials and construction methods of these masks based on stone reliefs. By comparison, we have an extensive knowledge of the masks of India. In fact, most of these genres are still being performed today. Consequently, we know a lot about the construction and use of Indian masks. From what we can tell about Greco-Roman theater, masks were a necessary part of performances. An actor could not step onto the stage without a mask. While, there are some Indian theater traditions which feature an all-masked cast, it is common for masked-characters to act along-side non-masked characters.====

====For both cultures, mask theater is largely religious. Greek plays were performed in the honor of Dionysus, and Indian plays often center on Hindu stories (CONCERNING HINDU GODS?). From reliefs, Greco-Roman masks seem to be full-face, possibly helmet masks. Many Indian theater masks are also full-face (although half-face masks are also used), and in some genres, such as Krsnanattam, helmet masks appear, often to represent characters with multiple faces. Greek and Indian masks are both modeled into easily recognizable character types, for example, an old King or the elephant-headed god Ganesh.====

====The many similarities between mask theater from two separated cultures begs the question of how these similarities arise. Is it mere coincidence, or something inherently present in the nature of masks?====

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