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The Odeion of Pompeii, also known as the Small Theatre, is one of the ancient city’s best-preserved entertainment buildings. It stands immediately beside the Large Theatre in the monumental district of Regio VIII, but differed in both size and function: it was a more intimate space and, above all, was covered by a roof, which provided especially effective acoustics.
The Pompeians themselves called it the theatrum tectum, or “covered theatre”, as inscriptions beside its entrances record.
It was built in the early years of the Roman colony, shortly after 80 BC, on the initiative of the magistrates Caius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius, two central figures in the monumental development of Sullan Pompeii. The same magistrates were also involved in building the Amphitheatre.
A roofed theatre for music
The roof is the feature that most clearly distinguishes the Odeion from the neighbouring Large Theatre.
The building was intended chiefly for performances in which sound quality was especially important: music, singing, recitations and mime. The roof prevented the sound from dispersing and effectively turned the building into an ancient auditorium.
To support the roof securely, the cavea was enclosed within a substantially rectangular perimeter. Its outer tiers could not therefore extend as broadly as those of the Large Theatre.
The building could accommodate about 1,300 spectators, far fewer than the thousands who could gather in the larger theatre. Its more intimate dimensions, however, helped create particularly favourable listening conditions.
Valgus and Porcius
The people responsible for its construction are known from one of the monument’s most important inscriptions.
It records Caius Quinctius Valgus and Marcus Porcius, the city’s duoviri, who commissioned the theatrum tectum by decree of the decurions and later approved the completed work.
The inscription was placed near the entrances, ensuring that those entering the theatre immediately saw the names of the magistrates responsible.
This is a clear example of the relationship between public architecture and political prestige in a Roman city: financing or promoting buildings for the community allowed members of the elite to leave a permanent record of their public service.
The cavea and the hierarchy of the audience
As in the Large Theatre, the arrangement of the audience in the Odeion reflected the city’s social distinctions.
The lower part of the cavea contained four broad rows reserved for the decurions, the members of the city council. Above them, the middle section of seating was divided into five sectors.
At either side of the orchestra were the tribunalia, privileged areas for people of the highest rank. They could be reached by dedicated routes, so distinguished guests did not have to pass through the most crowded parts of the theatre.
The architecture of entertainment thus became a visible representation of Pompeian society: a spectator’s seat immediately indicated their rank.
The tuff telamons
Among the Odeion’s most distinctive decorative features are large kneeling telamons carved from tuff, positioned at the ends of the cavea.
These male figures appear to support the architectural elements above with their bodies and draw on models from Hellenistic art.
The parapets separating the different sections of the cavea were also carefully decorated, with carved details that included winged griffin feet.
These features show that the Small Theatre was not merely a reduced version of the Large Theatre, but a building designed with a strong architectural and decorative identity of its own.
The marble orchestra
The orchestra, the semicircular area between the cavea and the stage, was especially luxurious.
During the Augustan period it was paved with refined coloured marbles arranged in geometric patterns.
An inscription in bronze letters commemorated Marcus Oculatius Verus, the civic magistrate who personally paid for the new pavement. Here again, an improvement to a public building permanently associated the benefactor’s name with the monument.
The polychrome marbles must have created a particularly refined effect in a space as relatively small and intimate as the Small Theatre.
The stage
The stage stood in front of the orchestra, with the stage building behind it.
Although simpler than the monumental stage of the Large Theatre, it had all the features needed for performances, including three openings leading to backstage rooms used by the performers.
The structures required to operate the curtain also survive; curtains in Roman theatres opened differently from those used in modern theatres.
The Odeion’s architectural emphasis nevertheless lay chiefly on the cavea, orchestra and roof, the elements essential to an environment designed for listening.
Greek culture and Roman Pompeii
The form of the Odeion retains a strong Hellenistic influence.
Odeia were especially common in Greek cities, where they were used for music, poetry, meetings and cultural events. Buildings of this type were far less common in the western Mediterranean.
The Pompeian theatrum tectum, built during the Sullan period, is therefore one of the earliest known odeia in Italy and shows how deeply Greek culture continued to influence the city even after the Roman conquest.
Its proximity to the Large Theatre further emphasises this continuity: two buildings of different size and function together formed one of Pompeii’s principal centres of entertainment.
The theatre district
The Large Theatre and Odeion did not stand in isolation.
Behind them extended the great Quadriporticus of the Theatres, a porticoed space where spectators could meet and pause. In a later phase, this complex was converted into the so-called Gladiators’ Barracks.
A short distance uphill stood the Triangular Forum, Doric Temple and Samnite Palaestra.
The entire area was therefore one of Pompeii’s most important cultural districts, concentrating religion, entertainment, athletics and public life within a relatively small space.
Traces left by the audience
The walls of the Odeion also retained numerous graffiti scratched by spectators.
Some inscriptions commemorate people from distant places, showing that Pompeii’s entertainments could attract visitors from beyond the city and its immediate territory.
These apparently modest marks are especially valuable because they offer a perspective very different from the official inscriptions of magistrates: they are traces left directly by the people who used the building.
The rediscovery of the Odeion
The Small Theatre was one of the monuments uncovered during the first major Bourbon excavation campaigns.
Exploration began in 1769 and continued in subsequent years, with further work in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
The good preservation of the cavea, architectural structures and part of the decoration quickly made the building one of the monuments most admired by scholars and travellers visiting Pompeii.
Today, the Odeion illuminates an aspect of Pompeian cultural life different from that represented by the large open-air theatre: a more intimate space in which music, singing and recitation could be heard under especially favourable acoustic conditions.
Together with the neighbouring Large Theatre, it provides exceptional evidence of the Pompeians’ enthusiasm for performance and of the complexity of the city’s cultural life on the eve of the eruption of AD 79.