Art & MusicGreek → English
Odeon
/ˈoʊdiən/noun
A roofed building for musical performance, ancient or modern.
The Greek roots
ᾠδεῖον
ōideîon
music hall
ᾠδή
ōidḗ
song
Literally: “song place”
The story of the word
Pericles built the first famous one in Athens around 435 BC, roofed and square, for the musical contests of the Panathenaia. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus, cut into the south slope of the Acropolis in 161 AD, still seats five thousand people for summer concerts. Cinema chains took the name in the 1930s, so a great many British high streets carry a Greek music hall over the doors.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → French → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
odemelodyparodyrhapsody
In a sentence
We queued at the odeon for tickets to the Herodion concert.
Excavation revealed a small Roman odeon beneath the car park.