The Odeon

Odeon (building)

Odeon is the name for several ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions. They were generally small in size, especially compared with a full-size ancient Greek theatre....

 of Lyon is a small ancient Roman theatre

Roman theatre (structure)

The characteristics of Roman to those of the earlier Greek theatres due in large part to its influence on the Roman triumvir Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Much of the architectural influence on the Romans came from the Greeks, and theatre structural design was no different from other buildings...

 near the summit of the Fourvière

Fourvière

Fourvière is a district of Lyon, France located on a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising abruptly from the river Saône and then gently sloping down to the north-west. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum...

 hill in Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, France. It forms a pair with the theatre

Antique theatre of Fourvière

The Roman theatre is a Roman ancient structure in Lyon, France. It was built next to the hill of Fourvière, which is located in the center of the Roman city.- Chronology :...

, one of only two such pairs in Gaul (the other is in Vienne

Vienne, Isère

Vienne is a commune in south-eastern France, located south of Lyon, on the Rhône River. It is the second largest city after Grenoble in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture. The city's population was of 29,400 as of the 2001 census....

).

History

The building was discovered in the sixteenth century and was wrongly considered at the time as the amphitheater where the Christian martyrs

Christian martyrs

A Christian martyr is one who is killed for following Christianity, through stoning, crucifixion, burning at the stake or other forms of torture and capital punishment. The word "martyr" comes from the Greek word μάρτυς, mártys, which means "witness."...

 died in Lyon in 177. Sometimes regarded as a theater or auditorium by various authors (Claude Bellièvre, Gabriel Simeoni, Guillaume Paradin), the monument appeared in several texts and plans, and was eventually deemed as a cultural building.

The Odeon was built in the early to mid-second century. Archaeologists are reluctant on the date of its construction. The excavators date the building of the same period as the extension of the theater during the reign of Hadrian

Hadrian

Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...

. It has a 73-meter diameter and a 3,000-seat capacity, which justifies its classification as Odeon, i.e. a covered building used for musical performances and reading public, less popular than the theater performances. It was also used as meeting room for the notables of the city.

See also

• Ancient Theatre of Fourvière
• Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls
  Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls
  The Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls of Lugdunum was part of the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus celebrated by the 60 Gallic tribes when they gathered at Lugdunum...