Un volto per l’eternità: la maschera funeraria e il sogno dell’immortalità

Funerary mask is a transcultural phenomenon that involves, in different ways and times, the whole Mediterranean (and further), due to its particular power of conservation of individuality, condensed in the face and in the head. This paper will deal mainly with golden face masks, epistomia and other metal foils that covered the face of the deceased in necropoleis of archaic Macedonia. Analysing their chronological and geographical distribution, their archaeological contexts and decorative patterns, it will be shown that, more than the wealth, the social and symbolic prominence of the deceased, these artefacts convey a specific eschatological meaning.