GREECE ATTICA ATHENS ACROPOLIS SOUTH SLOPE

the theatre of Dionysos

According to tradition it was Thespis who first travelled the land with his company and performed the first drama in honour of the god Dionysos. When the Great Dionysian Festival in Athens attracted more and more spectators, the site south of the acropolis was chosen. In the great times of Aischylos, Sophokles, Euripides, Aristophanes and others, whose masterpieces were first performed here, the spectators probably still sat on wooden benches. - The next architectural structures were modified by Lycourgos around 330 BC to accomodate 17,000 spectators on 67 rows of stone benches. Many of the ruins visible today belong to this period.

the odeion of Herodes Atticus

The odeion of Herodes Atticus was the third odeion to be built in Athens, after the odeion of Perikles and that of Agrippa. It was erected by Herodes in memory of his wife Regilla, who died in AD 160. It is shaped as a semicircular theatre with a radius of 38 m and could seat ca. 5,000 people. The massive facade was 28 m high.

The odeion is again used today for concerts and theatrical performances.