odeum : OH-dee-um

(Roman; from the Greek word odeion, literally, “singing place;” corresponds to the Greek word odeion or odeon). A small, roofed theater or recital hall used for entertainment such as performed music, poetry readings, debates, or lectures. The prototype odeion was the Odeion of Pericles (Odeon of Athens), a mainly wooden building by the southern slope of the Acropolis of Athens. Plutarch described it as ‘many-seated and many-columned’ and may have been square, though excavations have also suggested a different shape, 208 x 62 feet.