Mixanthropy and masks – the iconography of Acheloos

Introduction The previous chapter ended with the importance of the relationship between the fluidity of metamorphosis and the immobility of the visual image. In the current chapter this relationship continues to be scrutinised with regard to a very particular element in the iconography of mixanthropic deities: the mask. Two aspects will be considered. First I shall explore the paradoxical quality of the mask as both facilitating transformation and being itself exceptionally inanimate. Second,..