 Situated just to the
west of the theatre and also in volcanic stone is the odéon
[odeum, a small auditorium similar in plan to the theatre
and designed to host musical and oratorical
performances]. It was erected after the larger building,
but the chronology, sometime between the second
and third century AD, cannot presently be
identified precisely. While the stage and its rear wall
are pattly covered by modern structures, the cavea
is fully visible and is divided into two parts: the lower
part consists of three wedges, with eleven rows of seats
and four stairways; the upper section, however, is in a
badstate of repair and rests on a radial arrangement of
walls. The function of the seventeen rooms formed by
these walls is not clear, but they were reached by a
series of arched openings in the façade. The orchestra
was paved in marble and the building's ornament hinged on
the contrast between lava (the basic building material)
and the marble decoration. |
