page_title: Odeon of Philippopolis
section_title: The Odeon
hierarchical_section_title: Odeon of Philippopolis / The Odeon
caption_attribution_description: English: The northern part of the ancient forum of Plovdiv with the ruins of the Odeon and the City Library.
context_page_description: The Odeon of Philippopolis was the house of the city council of citizens of ancient Plovdiv. It was also used as a theatre due to its appropriate structure. The Odeon buildings had four construction periods: from the 2nd century AD when it was initially built to the 4th century AD when it was abandoned. The existence of such a building in ancient Plovdiv is a sign for the importance of Philippopolis as a cultural and political center.
context_section_description: The Odeon was a rectangular building which comprise typical elements for roofed theatres like skene, orchestra and cavea. The skene is narrow and its length spreads through the entire width of the cavea. The proskenion (the podium in front of the skene) was 1,5m higher than the level of the orchestra. The skene was two stories high built in Corinthian order system of Roman type which was typical for the period. Typically for a theatre buildings, vertical grooves were found in the skene's wall which indicate that a structure for raising and lowering a curtain probably existed. The height of the construction that bears the cavea was considerable.
  The orchestra had a horseshoe shape which was typical for Roman provinces. In the last construction period of the Odeon, however, size of the orchestra was reduced and its shape became semicircular. The floor was made of large marble slabs surrounded by marble orthostates near the cavea. A wall around the Eastern end of the orchestra supported the lowest part the cavea.
  The cavea surrounds the Eastern side of orchestra and had between 300-350 spectator seats arranged in step-like shape for better visibility. A vaulted structure with numerous vaulted spaces in truncated cone shape supported the cavea. A similar structure was used for the construction of the spectator area of the Colosseum in Rome. The cavea is separated from the skene via parodoi.
caption: The Odeon and the Northern part of the Forum
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