Mérida has preserved, as fully as possible, the three great buildings designed for the most important public shows: the theatre, the amphitheatre and the circus. The first two are located next to the museum, while the circus, used for horse and chariot races, is situated on the outskirts of the city.
The shows and theatrical games, gladiatorial, venatic and circensian, which were put on for the masses, constitute a practice developed in Rome and subsequently introduced throughout the Empire. Today we can consider the existence of these buildings and their use over a long period of time as a symbol of the Romanism of the colony known as Augusta Emerita.
To the left of the central nave, a group of statues dating from the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century are exhibited. In their day they made part of the ornamentation of the theatre’s front (the statues which can be seen in this monument in the present day are plastic replicas). In Room I we can see the statues of Proserpine, a goddess with an infernal character, Pluto, god of the underworld, husband of the former and an emperor in military dress. Ceres, goddess of agriculture and mother of Proserpine, presides over the exhibits of Room II. Two new effigies of emperors in military attire and a few cornices coming from the same building occupy that Room.
Room I, to the right of the central nave, displays pieces related to the circus and the amphitheatre. In the display case there is a painted inscription coming from the great doors of the amphitheatre which a gladiator dedicated to the goddess Nemesis and several bronze pieces related to the ludi circenses: a boxer, a shin pad, the rein guides of a chariot (one showing a panther and the other hunting scenes), a magnificent horse and a military horseman.
At the far end of this room the elevation of the base or podium of the amphitheatre is shown schematically. Here four ashlars, which were part of its balustrade, give us an idea of the type of painted decoration that was on the monument and help us to visualise these typically Roman shows. We can see a retiarius (gladiator armed with a net and a trident), a fight between a tigress and a wild boar and a mountainous landscape that made up part of the scenery in general.
The stone inscriptions attest to the official importance attached to these buildings and explain how they served to enhance the glory and prestige of the emperors in the eyes of their subjects. There are fragments preserved from the commemorative inscription of the inauguration of the amphitheatre that mentions the eleventh consulate and the sixteenth tribunitial authority (the equivalent of the eighth year of the Christian era). There is also a stone tablet bearing witness to the restoration of the circus by the successors of Constantine the Great between the years 337 and 340.
In Room II we can see the religious manifestations alluded to in the theatre. This type of building constituted an appropriate vehicle for the development of imperial propaganda, since religious ceremonies glorifying the emperors and their ancestors were generally held prior to the theatrical representations. These religious acts were held in small temples located in the highest part of the stands or in chapels, as it was in the case of Mérida, situated in the central axis of the portico annexed to the rear of the stage. The majority of the pieces that are exhibited in the room proceed from this area.
In the display case there are a number of pieces connected with the theatre: actor’s masks made of terra-cotta, face paint and bronzes, small sculptures of emperors and empresses: Faustina Minor, Septimius Severus, Crispus and embossing with weapons found in the theatre. An interesting inscription in bronze calls to mind the brotherly tie established between Augusta Emerita and the city of Ugia in Baetica.
Here there is a magnificent series of imperial portraits: Augustus, Tiberius, Drusus and Agripina. The five sculptures, which symbolically surround Augustus, are wearing the classical Roman toga and can be identified as flamines (priests) devoted to the imperial religious cult as they appeared in the chapel of the theatre’s portico mentioned above.
This portrait of Augustus with a veil, which marks his status of Chief Pontiff, constitutes one of the museum’s most treasured pieces and one of the most beautiful Roman portraits in the Iberian Peninsula. It is made of Carrara marble and follows the model known as “ Augustus of Via Labicana”, today in the National Museum of Termas in Rome.
An inscription dedicated to Coronia Procula, several stone fragments mentioning various emperors and a representation of Diana in a running pose complete the room.
Room III shows the different moments in the theatre’s monumental architecture. This building, inaugurated officially in the years 16-15 B.C., was built by Agrippa, Augustus’s son-in-law and his universal minister. Throughout its history it underwent important changes, the most important of which took place during Trajan’s time (to which the pieces located next to the corresponding commemorative stone also belong) and during the times of Constantine’s children (which are also attested to in an inscription).
A sundial, which in its day was situated in the centre of the theatre’s portico, and the image of a deified emperor, which was part of the stage decoration, are also displayed.