Athenaeum (pronounced ath-uh-nee-uhm or ath-uh-ney-uhn)
(1) An
institution for the promotion of literary or scientific learning.
(2) A
library or reading room.
(3) A
sanctuary of Athena at Athens, built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, and
frequented by poets and scholars (always with initial capital letter).
1727: Adopted in English from the Latinized form of
Greek Athḗnaion (the
temple of Athene) in ancient Athens, in which professors taught and actors or
poets rehearsed. The meaning "literary club-room or reading room" is
from 1799 and "literary or scientific club" is from 1864. The academy of learning in Rome was established
near the Forum in circa 135 AD by the Emperor Hadrian. The alternative (mostly US) spelling is
athenaeum.
The Emperor Hadrian built the Athenaeum as a place for the promotion of literary and scientific studies (ingenuarum artium), the name borrowed from the Hellenic original in acknowledgement of the still admired intellectual traditions of classical Athens. The Athenaeum was situated near the Capitoline Hill and the ruins were discovered in 2009 during excavations for the construction of a underground rail line, in the middle of what is now Piazza Venezia.
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