Livius Picture Archive: Emerita Augusta (Mérida)

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	Emerita Augusta (Mérida) Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
	The exterior of the famous theater of Mérida. it was decorated with statues, like the bust of Augustustus on the preceding page.
	The building inscription of the theater of Mérida: M. Agrippa L.F. cos III. trib. pot. III ('Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, three times consul, in the third year of his tribunicial powers'). This refers to 16-14 BCE, although building may have started in 20 or 19. An almost identical inscription can be read on the façade of the Pantheon in Rome.
	The interior of the theater. It was rebuilt in 105 (during the reign of the Spanish emperor Trajan) and 333-335 (during the reign of Constantine I the Great).
	And another photo of the same theater. Only the theaters of Orange, Sabratha, and Aspendus are better preserved. Here you can see it on a satellite photo.
	The stage, which has been restored.
	Another picture of the stage.
	Detail of the stage.
	One of the entrances, seen from the inside of the theater.
	The corridor leading from the outside to the entrance.
	Fresco found in the theater: a lion attacks another animal. Fights like these were the first part of a gladiatorial contest. If the animal is a boar, it may be a veiled comment upon one of the founding legions, XX Valeria Victrix, which had a boar as its emblem. However, this is unlikely.
	A similar fight between a hunter and a lion.
	more pictures	© Jona Lendering for Livius.Org, 2003 Revision: Spring 2007

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