Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Greek Ωδείο Ηρώδου του Αττικού or Ηρώδειο ) is an ancient theater at the foot of the Acropolis rock, Athens. The theater was founded by Herod Atticus and holds 5000 spectators. Since the 1930s, it is used again regularly for events and is the home venue of the Athens Festival.

History

After the Odeon of Pericles and the Odeon of Pausanias it was the third building named Odeon in Athens. Herodes Atticus gave the theater in the year 161 AD, his hometown and dedicated it to the memory of his wife Regilla. From then on, the design of the Odeon (Latin Odeum ) spread even beyond Athens, some in Rome. The writer Pausanias mentioned, the Odeon a few years after the construction in his description of Greece. The Germanic tribe of the Heruli sacked in 267, the theater and also destroyed the roof, which was not rebuilt. In the 19th century, extensive excavations took place. Even before the Odeon of Catania ( Sicily ), it is named after the oldest preserved ancient Odeon at all.

In modern times, the Odeon, in spite of other comparable theaters (such as the Theatre on the Lycabettus Hill ) for a long time the most popular venue. Here occurred of Maria Callas and Mikis Theodorakis. Nana Mouskouri was here after 20 years in exile again their first concert, Yanni took his album Yanni Live at the Acropolis here. Meanwhile, the theater has given its role as the main stage at the acoustically better " Hall of the Friends of Music " Megaro Mousikis, but is still preferred in the summer, especially since it is structurally open.

Building

In contrast to the adjacent larger and preserved as a ruin Dionysus, the Odeon Theatre is a theater in the Roman and not Greek- Design: The Orchestra ( playing surface ) on the one hand through the stands, on the other hand, enclosed by the stage area. This consisted of a central building and two wings. Through numerous arched niches, it is richly structured, the walls were covered with marble and fitted with numerous statues. The auditorium covered the largest known roof work of antiquity, which reached a clear width of almost 50 meters. The 32 steep rows of seats of marble form a semi-circle and hold 5000 spectators. 1952-1953 the stands were restored to facilitate the theater.