A trace of the mask used in ancient Greek theatrical presentations in the book Asās al-Eqtebās

Part of the Asās al-Eqtebās, like many other books of logic in the Islamic scholarship, is devoted to the art of poetry. These books are largely based on Aristotle’s Poetics, and therefore the contents therein of the part on poetry are mostly adapted from this philosopher’s book of Poetics. However, the process of translation (from Greek into Syriac, from the latter into Arabic and from Arabic into Persian), the commentaries and summaries of the Poetics as well as the unfamiliarity of translators and commentators with the subject matter of the book (the dramatic poetry of ancient Greece), have caused the material taken from the Poetics to become outlandish and sometimes erroneous. The word shahnah in the section on poetry in the Asās al-Eqtebās is a misreading of sahnah meaning look and colour of the face, being an incorrect rendering of the Greek word prosopon denoting “mask” in Greek theatre. Also, the expression akhz be wojuh in the Asās al-Eqtebās is an incorrect translation of the Greek word hypokrisis that means playing role, its agent noun  being hypokrites which denotes “dramatic role player”. As the artists in ancient Greek theatres always wore masks, this word is probably related to dramatic mask. Both expressions (sahnah and prosopon) have found their way from Avicenna’s book of Shefā into Asās al-Eqtebās.