Christians Buried the ‘Immoral’ Theater of Emerita Augusta, But the Grand Monument Would Rise Again

A grand ancient Roman city with an impressive amount of buildings that allow you to feel like you’ve traveled in time. We are going to take you on a journey around a city created in Spain just a few years after the death of Cleopatra.

Over five years after the death of the Egyptian Queen, Octavian Augustus was a powerful ruler whose troops reached lands that were out-of-reach to his ancestors. The spectacular ruins of the ancient city of Emerita Augusta are the remnants of constructions created by his order and prepared to resettle emeritus soldiers – Roman veterans discharged from their legions. Most of them belonged to the Legio X Gemina and Legio V Alaudae. The settlement is located on the current site of the city of Mérida in Spain. Emerita Augusta became a capital of the Roman province of Lusitania. It was a provincial Rome full of magnificent buildings. The site is now a paradise for every person who loves the history of the Roman Empire.

Portal of the Roman forum from Emerita Augusta, now Mérida, Spain. (CC BY SA 4.0)