Head-dress used to cover the face and enable the wearer to portray a particular character or animal. In theater, the term often refers to the masks worn by actors in Greek tragedy. Some accounts, perhaps apocryphal, state that these masks, in conjunction with devices contained in them, were necessitated by the vast size of Greek ampitheatres (the largest of which could hold between 15,000 and 20,000 spectators). It is more likely, however, that they were used for traditional reasons of permitting one actor to play more than one role and to lend dignity and mystery to the portrayal of the character.