Theatrum Augustae Emeritae
About
Marcus Agrippa financed the theatre for the new colony of Augusta Emerita, and builders finished it in 16 BCE. A two-story colonnaded stage backdrop rose behind the orchestra, its columns and marble statuary framing performances for an audience of six thousand. Veterans of the Roman legions who settled the colony filled its semicircular tiers for comedies, tragedies, and public ceremonies alike. Under Trajan, workers refaced the stage building's facade in marble and fenced a sacred precinct into the front seating rows with a marble railing. Cut into a hillside above the Guadiana River, the theatre stood 132 years old in 117 CE, still the beating heart of the colony's cultural life.
What happened here
Seating is the message: the front rows are reserved by law for the town council, and everyone can see who is sitting where. The building is a half-circle against a tall stone backdrop that also serves as a permanent set, and the acoustics are good enough that an actor can be heard without effort. The programme is mime and pantomime more than the old tragedies — bawdy, topical, sometimes politically sharp enough that performers get exiled. Audiences are loud, partisan, and quite prepared to shout a piece down. Awnings and perfumed water sprays are laid on when the sponsor is generous. Shows are attached to religious festivals and paid for by a magistrate who wants the credit, and his name is on the seating.
In ancient writing
- CIL II 474, dedicatory inscription 16-15 BCE
A lintel inscription over the theatre's side passages named Marcus Agrippa, three times consul, as its builder, opening with the same 'M AGRIPPA L F COS' formula he later used on Rome's Pantheon.
Sources
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →