Theatrical Mask of a Comic Character

The theatrical mask depicts a male character with coiled hair, a deeply furrowed forehead, and arched eyebrows. His eyes are wide open, his nose is rather prominent, and his mouth is open in a broad grin.

The features of the mask correspond to a character from Roman comedy, reproduced in a stereotypical way in several ancient sculptures: the comic type of the papposilenus.

Although representations of this character are documented in several ancient theatres, including the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome, the mask from Amiternum has unique features, only partially comparable to those of similar finds recovered in Italy, particularly in Parma, and in Spain, in Córdoba. Based on these comparisons, we can also date the Amiternum mask to the first three decades of the 1st century A.D.

The mask was found during recent excavations (2014) carried out by the then Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Abruzzo, in the basin of a fountain located in front of the theatre of Amiternum. Most likely, it originally decorated some part of the monumental complex—possibly the vaulted rooms facing the city’s main road or the stage wall.