Heorot (ˈhɛo̯rɔt; Modern: ˈheɪ.ɒroʊt , sometimes translated Herot) is a mead hall

Mead hall

In ancient Scandinavia and Germanic Europe a mead hall or feasting hall was initially simply a large building with a single room. From the fifth century to early medieval times such a building was the residence of a lord and his retainers. The mead hall was generally the great hall of the king...

 described in the Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 epic Beowulf

Beowulf

Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...

as "the foremost of halls under heaven." It served as a palace for King Hroðgar

Hroðgar

Hroðgar, King Hroþgar, "Hrothgar", Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century....

, a legendary Danish king of the sixth century. Heorot means "Hall of the Hart

Hart (deer)

The word hart is an old alternative word for "stag" ....

" (male deer). The Geatish (Swedish) hero Beowulf

Beowulf (hero)

Beowulf is a legendary Geatish hero and later turned king in the epic poem named after him, one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the English language.-Etymology and origins of the character:...

 defends the royal hall and its residents from the demonic Grendel

Grendel

Grendel is one of three antagonists, along with Grendel's mother and the dragon, in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf . Grendel is usually depicted as a monster, though this is the subject of scholarly debate. In the poem, Grendel is feared by all but Beowulf.-Story:The poem Beowulf is contained in...

.
The anonymous

Anonymous work

Anonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the United States it is legally defined as "a work on the copies or phonorecords of which no natural person is identified as author."...

 author of Beowulf praises Heorot as follows:

Then, as I have heard, the work of constructing a building

Was proclaimed to many a tribe throughout this middle earth.

In time – quickly, as such things happen among men –

It was all ready, the biggest of halls.

He whose word was law

Far and wide gave it the name ‘Heorot’.

The men did not dally; they strode inland in a group

Until they were able to discern the timbered hall,

Splendid and ornamented with gold.