Abstract
In this paper, a typology of a building erected in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome is described: the Odeon. The Odeon is a covered building, but more modest in size than traditional open-air theatres without roofs. The Odeon could hold a few hundred spectators and therefore a smaller audience. The roof covering allowed the possibility of meetings even in adverse weather conditions. The etymology of the word of the Odeon (covered theatre) means the place of the ode, or of the songs. In this paper are discussed the architectonic and acoustic characteristics of the Odea of Pompeii and Posillipo. With commercial software (Odeon, Room Acoustics Software, Lyngby Denmark) we assess the acoustic characteristics of the Odea of Pompeii and Posillipo in the presence of an original roofing system and show that these buildings were well suited for music, songs and speech.
Highlights
The ancients had no scientific knowledge of the physics of sound; they relied on the observation and interpretation of natural phenomena in a mythological key and through oracles
The Ancient Greeks observed the phenomenology of nature and sensed the principles that underlie the science of sound; they were aware that empty amphorae could alter the acoustic characteristics of a closed environment
The acoustic of closed environments is studied theoretically with software based on the ray-tracing method or with the image method
Summary
The ancients had no scientific knowledge of the physics of sound; they relied on the observation and interpretation of natural phenomena in a mythological key and through oracles. The Ancient Greeks observed the phenomenology of nature and sensed the principles that underlie the science of sound; they were aware that empty amphorae could alter the acoustic characteristics of a closed environment. A diffused sound was created the acoustics of thehas theatre; recently been understood [5,6]. This complex phenomenon has only recently been understood [5,6]. The size of the scenic building covered the maximum height reflection of sound towards the cavea. The size of the scenic building covered the maximum height of of cavea in order to enclose the scene and the cavea in a body.
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