The ROMAN CIVILIZATION
IMAGES OF THE ROMAN CIVILIZATION
emerita Augusta
Roman discharged soldiers (veterans) – of the army of Augustus war
in Nortern Spain.. 
The Roman colony of Emerita Augusta (present day Mérida) was founded in 25 BC by Augustus, to resettle emeriti soldiers discharged from the Roman army from two veteran legions of the Cantabrian Wars: Legio V Alaudae and Legio X Gemina. The city was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania.
the name Mérida is an evolution of the Name) by order of Emperor Augustus, to protect a pass and a bridge over the Guadiana river. Emerita Augusta was one of the ends of the Vía de la Plata (Silver Way), a strategic Roman Route between the gold mines around Asturica Augusta and the most important Roman city in the Iberian Peninsula. The city became the capital of Lusitania province, and one of the most important cities in the Roman empire. Mérida preserves more important ancient Roman monuments than any other city in Spain, including a triumphal arch and a theatre..
Hispania
Second Punic War Roman Conquest of Hispania and Romanization of Hispania.. 
After its defeat by the Romans in the First Punic War (264 BC–241 BC), Carthage compensated for its loss of Sicily by rebuilding a commercial empire in Hispania. the province of Hispania.
The major part of the Punic Wars, fought between the Punic Carthaginians and the Romans, was fought on the Iberian Peninsula. Carthage gave control of the Iberian Peninsula and much of its empire to Rome in 201 BC as part of the peace treaty after its defeat
THE TEMPLE OF DIANA
This temple is a municipal building belonging to the city forum. It is one of the few buildings of religious character preserved in a satisfactory state. Despite its name, wrongly assigned on its discovery, the building was dedicated to the Imperial cult. It was built in the late 1st century BC or early in the Augustan era. Later it was partly re-used for the palace of the Count of Corbos.
Rectangular, and surrounded by columns, it faces the front of the city's Forum. This front is formed by a set of six columns ending in a gable. It is mainly built of granite.
THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE
The amphitheatre was dedicated in 8 BC, for use in gladiatorial contests and staged beast-hunts. It has an elliptical arena, surrounded by tiered seating for around 15,000 spectators, divided according to the requirements of Augustan ideology; the lowest seats were reserved for the highest status spectators. Only these lowest tiers survive. Once the games had fallen into disuse, the stone of the upper tiers was quarried for use elsewhere.
THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE
The amphitheatre was dedicated in 8 BC, for use in gladiatorial contests and staged beast-hunts. It has an elliptical arena, surrounded by tiered seating for around 15,000 spectators, divided according to the requirements of Augustan ideology; the lowest seats were reserved for the highest status spectators. Only these lowest tiers survive. Once the games had fallen into disuse, the stone of the upper tiers was quarried for use elsewhere.
THE ROMAN THEATRE
THE ROMAN THEATRE
The Roman Theatre of Mérida is a construction promoted by the consul Vipsanius Agrippa in the Roman city of Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania (current Mérida, Spain). It was constructed in the years 16 to 15 BCE.
The theatre has undergone several renovations, notably at the end of the 1st century or early 2nd century CE (possibly during the reign of Emperor Trajan), when the current facade of the scaenae frons was erected, and another in the time of Constantine I (between 330 and 340) which introduced new decorative-architectural elements and a walkway around the monument. Following the theatre's abandonment in Late Antiquity, it was slowly covered with earth, with only the upper tiers of seats (summa cavea) remaining visible. In local folklore the site was referred to as "The Seven Chairs", where, according to tradition, several Moorish kings sat to decide the fate of the city
THE people Roman City of Emerita Augusta
Agrippa’s legacy is here in Mérida , these days it’s known as the Teatro Romano, the largest standing Roman theater in Europe.The family was the fundamental social unit in the eternal city, and at its head was the father, or if there were no father, the eldest living male - the Latin expression for this is paterfamilias. In 18 BCE Emperor Augustus, objected to this decline of Roman morals and enacted a series of laws to promote marriage, marriage fidelity, and childbirth. However, under the emperor the idea of pater potesta would expand - he became pater patriae or father of his country.People of Emerita Augusta were typical of the roman empire
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EMERITA AUGUSTA BRIDGE
the longest of all existing Roman bridges
The city was the capital of the Roman province of Lusitania.
The Roman bridge over the river Albarregas. Its construction was made in the reign of Augustus, in order to save the river Albarregas before emptying into the river Guadiana to barely a few hundred yards downstream. From here started the Via de la Plata to Astorga. Is 145 meters , the longest of all existing Roman bridges
PORCH OF THE FORUM
The Forum Gate. Erected in the 1st century. It was restored in the last century based on some of the findings in the place, many of which are preserved in the National Museum of Roman Art. The monument consists of an arcaded building with a wall which is home to diverse niches for statues found here.
MERDIA MOSSAICS
One of the Mossaics in Merdia Mosaic of the Charioteers Pavement
MERDIA MOSSAICS
One of the Mossaics in Merdia Mosaic of the Charioteers Pavement
Mosaic of the Charioteers Pavement of a rectangular room with apses and extremes, one adorned with vegetable motifs and the other with a cratera or drinking vessel from which there spring vines and bunches of grapes. The central part of the mosaic consists of three sections joined by a common border cables first, in the centre, and in very poor condition, is made up by a square frame containing a circular medallion portraying revellers who dance and bang the castanets among other Dionysian symbols. At the inner corners of the square are depictions of the four winds, with lines radiating from their mouths. On the other two sections, flanking the central one, we can see victorious charioteers accompanied by the names MARCIANUS and PAULUS followed by the words NICHA and NICA (cries used to enliven the horses) and their horses. In the scene on the left, epigraphs identify one of the horses as INLUMINATOR and the owner of the team 4th C.AD
TRAJAN'S ARCH
This was a monumental access gateway to the holy space that surrounded a giant temple used as a place of worship in imperial times.
This semicircular arch, today with a height of 15 metres from the top of the supports, was the central opening in a gateway consisting of three arches, of which the side arches were smaller and flatter. The whole structure was made of granite blocks.
ROMAN CIRCUS & AQUEDUCT OF SAN LÁZARO
The circus, or hippodrome, was used for chariot races. It was situated a bit outside Augusta Emerita, and was built in the first quarter of the first century, during the reigns of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius. Measuring 440 x 115 meter, it could accommodate about 30,000 people. Repairs were executed during the reign of the emperor Constantine II (337-340). It was probably still in use in the seventh century: one jockey, named Sabinianus, was buried in the Casa Herrera basilica in that age.
The second of the three aqueducts is called the San Lázaro. It had its sources - called Casa Herrera, Valhondo, and Las Tomas - to the north and northeast of Augusta Emerita and supplied among others the bathhouse near the Civic Forum in the center of the city. This water conduct was almost completely underground, except for the place where it had to cross the Albarregas; the bridge across the depression is still visible today, northwest of the circus. The Amphitheater House was at the end of this aqueduct. Part of it was restored in the sixteenth century and was in use until the twentieth century..
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