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It was in Ancient Greece, during the golden age (approximately 500 – 300 BCE) that masks were being worn for comedic and tragic dramatic purposes. The plays that took place in those days were written in honor of the god Dionysus and they were presented in yearly festivals. Thus, this was the birth of ancient Greek theatre. Masks had many significant functions in ancient Greek theatre. For starters, at that time in history, all of the actors were male. With this being the case, the masks played an imperative role in disguising their manly facial features with a feminine face; therefore allowing them to established the female roles. As well, the number of actors in a play varied from a mere one to three. The masks allowed each actor to play more roles and showed the change in character and mood to the audience. In general, the masks portrayed whether the actor was female or male, rich or poor and the different occupations and status of the character. A relevant example of this is that the members of the chorus wore masks that were similar to one another; however, they were completely different from those of leading actors, such as a priest or a God.
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