Talk:Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Why not a theatre, because it was roofed?

5000 spectators. But roofed. What is decisive in the definition of an odeon/odeion, size or roofing? Arminden (talk) 00:05, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

It doesn't have anything to do with the roof. Although nowadays it also functions as theatre, it's initial purpose was not to host theatrical performances like other theaters/amphitheaters of its time. Therefore the given name was "Odeon" (only for musical performances), and this name is kept until today.--Clicklander (talk) 16:13, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

@Clicklander: hi. Thank you for your reply. However, it doesn't address the problems with the article.

• What matters is what's in the article, not on the talk-page.
• There is not a single wikilink there to odeon, instead it links to Roman theatre.
• The definition of an odeon is given at ref. 2: "One variation of the Roman theater was the odeon, a small, completely roofed theater intended for poetry readings and music performances". Quite different from yours.
• I have started a discussion on this topic on the talk-page of odeon. If you wish, you can contribute there. Whatever comes out, it should be introduced in this article too.
• Etymology (it comes from ode - reciting, singing or whatever) is not decisive, many terms are kept even after the item they're used for has evolved and has expanded or changed its purpose.

Good sources are needed, but mainly for the actual odeon page. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 19:36, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

I do not see any problem with the article. Technically it is a Roman theater and that's written in the article. However its name is Odeon which was given to it in the ancient times, regardless if that fits to "the definition" or not. Apparently the ancient Greeks and Romans did not have exactly the same perception for what is an Odeon as we define it today. It was more about the use rather than the type of structure. You cannot change its name.Clicklander (talk) 09:04, 8 February 2022 (UTC)

I have been itching to rewrite this article, which is mostly a long list of mind-numbing trivia about pop bands. There is a dearth of academic literature on the subject, however, and the few monographs there are such as Korres 2014 are out of my reach. If there was any way to share/obtain this I'd be interested to know.Twospoonfuls (εἰπέ) 12:59, 8 February 2022 (UTC)