Ancient Hellenic theatre Roman Odeon goes digital

The world’s most famous ancient theatres, the Roman Odeon, goes digital through Landmark, GeoSLAM’s Greek distributor.

The Roman Odeon, among the most important and best preserved monuments in Nicopolis, is a true architectural masterpiece by some unknown but great architect. It lies at the centre of the town, on the west side of the Early Christian wall, adjacent to the Roman agora (forum). It was used for lectures, literary and musical contests and theatrical performances during the Nea Aktia religious games honouring Apollon

Being adjacent to the agora, it probably operated as a bouleuterion (council chamber) for the remaining months of the year. It was built during the reign of Augustus (early first century AD) and frequently repaired and remodelled in the late second century – early third century AD.

The odeon consisted of the cavea, the orchestra and the scene. The cavea contained 19 rows of seats and was divided into two sections by a small horizontal central corridor.

Considering the monument’s age and impressive structure, the survey called for a mobile mapping system that was lightweight and could navigate the depth of the structure and difficult-to-access spaces. Using the ZEB Revo’s ‘walk and scan’ method of data collection, the device enabled the team to capture the historic site and understand its layout in an impressive 15-minutes. 

Once completed, the scans of the cavea – picked up some areas that needed further restoration and, as a result, the scan data was passed on to the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports. For some time now, GeoSLAM solutions have been used widely in the understanding and maintenance of historic monuments.