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Roman theatre was modelled on Greek theatre. Roman actors wore a pallium (plural pallia), a small cape, slung over their shoulders. This cape was worn in imitation of the himation, a cloak worn by Greek actors. Like Greeks theatre, all actors were males. They also wore a mask. This bought the character's face close to the audience of large open-air theatres. They had intensely exaggerated facial features and expressions. By wearing masks, actors could play several characters without being identified and could play female roles. Various types of masks marked differences in sex, age, and social status. The colours of the pallia also helped to make these distinctions. A purple indicated a rich man, red indicated a poor man, yellow indicated a woman, short tunic indicated a slave, and short cloaks indicated a soldier. A yellow tassel meant the character was a god

When playing female roles, the actors donned two wooden props, the "prosterneda" (a wooden plate worn in front of the chest to imitate the breasts) and "progastreda" which imitated a woman's belly.

The actors who played in tragedies were more highly regarded that those who played in comedies. They wore boots called cothurnuses that elevated them above the other actors. The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin soled shoe called a sock.

Roman comedies which were translations or adaptations of the Greek New Comedy style of Greek comedy were called fabulae palliatae (plural), after the pallium.

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they used masks to wear on their face to play many roles of characters.

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Q: What did actors in roman theatre wear?
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