DOI chapter:
Division C: The road immediately east and south of the Acropolis, from the street of Tripods to the shrine of Demeter Chloe
DOI chapter:Section XII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61302#0433
SEC. XII
OF ANCIENT A THENS
261
Before he begins his account of the theatre Pausanias mentions
the Odeion of Pericles—the one Odeion, as has been noted, of
classical days. He does not call it an Odeion, but a building
made in imitation of the tent of Xerxes. That this building
was the Odeion is made quite certain by a passage in the Pericles
of Plutarch,22 which must be quoted in full :—“ The Odeion also,
built under the supervision of Pericles, has many seats and pillars
within ; the roof was made slanting and converging to one point,
and they say it was after the model and as an imitation of the
FIG. 12.—KRATER (REVERSE) I DIONYSOS AND ATTENDANTS.
King of Persia’s tent.” Hence the joke of Cratinus in the
Thrattae :—
“ Here’s our Zeus, with a head like an onion,
Now his ostrakon’s quite out of date ;
He wears for a cap his Odeion,
Our Pericles pointed of pate.”
Pericles, then, for the first time exerted his influence and got a
decree passed voting a prize for the best musical performer at the
Panathenaia, and he himself was made judge and giver of the
prizes ; he gave instructions to the performers, whether they were
singers or players on the flute and lyre. Musical contests were
then and thereafter witnessed at the Odeion.
It is necessarily this Odeion which is referred to in the Wasps
OF ANCIENT A THENS
261
Before he begins his account of the theatre Pausanias mentions
the Odeion of Pericles—the one Odeion, as has been noted, of
classical days. He does not call it an Odeion, but a building
made in imitation of the tent of Xerxes. That this building
was the Odeion is made quite certain by a passage in the Pericles
of Plutarch,22 which must be quoted in full :—“ The Odeion also,
built under the supervision of Pericles, has many seats and pillars
within ; the roof was made slanting and converging to one point,
and they say it was after the model and as an imitation of the
FIG. 12.—KRATER (REVERSE) I DIONYSOS AND ATTENDANTS.
King of Persia’s tent.” Hence the joke of Cratinus in the
Thrattae :—
“ Here’s our Zeus, with a head like an onion,
Now his ostrakon’s quite out of date ;
He wears for a cap his Odeion,
Our Pericles pointed of pate.”
Pericles, then, for the first time exerted his influence and got a
decree passed voting a prize for the best musical performer at the
Panathenaia, and he himself was made judge and giver of the
prizes ; he gave instructions to the performers, whether they were
singers or players on the flute and lyre. Musical contests were
then and thereafter witnessed at the Odeion.
It is necessarily this Odeion which is referred to in the Wasps