# Name for Greek comedy/tragedy faces

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-greek-comedy-tragedy-faces/316715>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 12, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-greek-comedy-tragedy-faces/316715 "2005-08-12T13:11:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-greek-comedy-tragedy-faces/316715/1 "2005-08-12T13:11:28Z")

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I see these at theaters all the time. Do they have a formal name?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-greek-comedy-tragedy-faces/316715/2 "2005-08-12T13:33:08Z")

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They are apparently meant to represent two aspects of Dionysus (the god of fertility and procreation), but I can’t find anything to suggest that the representation itself has a name besides the simple description; the masks of comedy and tragedy.

There’s quite an informative site [here](http://www.angelfire.com/art/masks/maskhistory.html) about the masks and their history.