Odeon (building)

Odeon is the name for several ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for music: singing exercises, musical shows, poetry competitions, and the like. The word comes from the Ancient Greek ᾨδεῖον, Ōideion, literally "singing place", or "building for musical competitions"; from the verb ἀείδω, aeidō, "I sing", which is also the root of ᾠδή, ōidē, "ode", and of ἀοιδός, aoidos, "singer".

In a general way its construction was similar to that of an ancient Greek theatre, but it was only a quarter of the size and was provided with a roof for acoustic purposes, a characteristic difference. The prototype odeon was the Odeon of Pericles (Odeon of Athens), a mainly wooden building by the southern slope of the Acropolis of Athens. It was described by Plutarch as 'many-seated and many-columned' and may have been square, though excavations have also suggested a different shape, 208 x 62 feet. It was said to be decorated with the masts and spars of ships captured from the Persians. It was rebuilt by king Ariobarzanes after destruction by fire in the Mithridatic war.

The oldest known odeon in Greece was the Skias at Sparta, so called from its resemblance to the top of a parasol, said to have been erected by Theodorus of Samos (600 B.C.); in Athens an odeon near the spring Enneacrunus on the Ilissus was referred to the age of Peisistratus, and appears to have been rebuilt or restored by Lycurgus (c. 330 B.C.). This is probably the building which, according to Aristophanes, was used for judicial purposes, for the distribution of corn, and even for the billeting of soldiers.

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