The central pit
An exposed channel and passages below the arena floor.
VonRalph — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España — CC BY 2.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Falk2 — CC BY-SA 4.0
**An amphitheatre for fifteen thousand, directly adjoining the theatre — with its central pit exposed, showing what lay beneath the sand** — in the same archaeological complex. It was built around **8 BC**, ⚠ **only seven years after the theatre** — **the city being equipped as a provincial capital all at once**. ⚠ **The difference between it and the theatre is fundamental**: **a theatre is a semicircle for drama**, ✅ **an amphitheatre a full oval for combat and animal games** — **two shapes for two entirely different purposes**. ✅ **Its central pit is exposed**: **a channel and passages below the arena floor** — ⚠ **used for drainage and perhaps for water spectacles**, **and for bringing in animals and fighters**. ⚠ **It was used as a quarry for centuries** — so it survives less complete than the theatre.
An exposed channel and passages below the arena floor.
Rows for fifteen thousand around the oval.
Two adjoining shapes for two different purposes.
Plaza Margarita Xirgu, 06800 Merida, Spain
**Three Roman buildings of different shape for three purposes — the confusion is very common, and Mérida has all three.** ✅ **The theatre (*theatrum*)**: **a semicircle** — **tiers on a half-circle facing a straight stage**, **with a tall wall behind it (the *scaenae frons*)**; **for drama, comedy and tragedy**. ⚠ **And sound is the design**: **the semicircular form and rear wall reflect the voice to the audience**. ✅ **The amphitheatre (*amphitheatrum*)**: ⚠ **the word means «double theatre»** — **a full oval**, **tiers on every side around a central arena**; **for gladiatorial combat, animal games and executions**. ⚠ **The difference is not aesthetic**: **combat is watched from every angle**, **drama needs one side and a backdrop**. ✅ **The circus**: **a very long rectangle with one rounded end** — **for chariot racing**; ⚠ **and always the largest**: **Mérida's circus held thirty thousand, twice the amphitheatre**. ✅ **And chariot racing was the most popular of all** — **more so than gladiators**. ⚠ **Mérida's circus is slightly out of the centre** and visited on the complex ticket; ✅ **less complete, but its scale alone repays it**.
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