Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Definition: The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was a relatively small, covered theater on the western side of the southern slope of the Acropolis, in Athens. It is considered to have been the most magnificent such structure in the Roman Empire.

• Greek Theater Layout

Herodes Atticus (Lucius Vibullus Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes) built the odeon for Athens to commemorate his wife Regilla (d. A.D. 160). Rutledge says it was completed in 174. It was the 3rd odeon created on the southern slope of the Acropolis, following Pericles' (5th Cen. B.C.) and Agrippa's (15 B.C.).

Herodes Atticus was a famed orator, high priest of the imperial cult at Athens, and friend of the Emperor Hadrian. Among his other philanthropic deeds, he financed an odeon in Corinth.

The odeon had a roof, held up to 5000 [Greek Ministry of Culture] or 8000 [Smith's Dictionary] -- at any rate, a fraction of the size of the nearby Theater of Dionysus -- and was built of porous stone blocks on the wall surface with quarry faced stones in the interior. The auditorium was hewn from the rock of the Acropolis.

The odeon of Herodes Atticus was destroyed in 267 B.C.

References:

• _{[URL = www.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=6622 ] Greek Ministry of Culture}
• _{"Odeum" William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 1875.}
• _{"Herodes the Great: Citizen of the World," by Harry C. Rutledge; The Classical Journal, (1960), pp. 97-109.}
• _{"The Odeum," by Oscar Broneer; Corinth, Vol. 10, The Odeum (1932).}

Also Known As: Herod Atticus Odeon

Alternate Spellings: Odeum