Roman Theatre (Mérida) - Quiz
Roman Theatre Mérida
  • 1. What material originally covered the rectangular pulpitum platform?
A) Granite
B) Marble
C) Stone
D) Wood
  • 2. What was the purpose of the holes in the floor of the pulpitum?
A) To ventilate the backstage
B) To drain rainwater
C) To place scenic backdrop posts and infrastructure
D) To house the orchestra
  • 3. What is the most spectacular feature of the theatre?
A) The imperial cult room
B) The granite façade
C) The downstage setting porticus post scaenam
D) The peristyle garden
  • 4. What is the total height of the porticus post scaenam?
A) 17.5m
B) 7.5m
C) 63m
D) 1910m
  • 5. What is the length of the porticus post scaenam?
A) 63m
B) 1933m
C) 17.5m
D) 7.5m
  • 6. What is the width of the porticus post scaenam?
A) 100m
B) 7.5m
C) 17.5m
D) 63m
  • 7. What material is the base of the porticus post scaenam made of?
A) Wood
B) Granite blocks
C) Formed concrete
D) Red marble paved stones
  • 8. What type of columns stand on the base of the porticus post scaenam?
A) Tuscan columns
B) Corinthian columns
C) Ionic columns
D) Doric columns
  • 9. What color are the shafts of the Corinthian columns?
A) Blue-veined marble
B) Black granite
C) Red marble
D) Pure white
  • 10. What color are the bases and capitals of the columns on the stage?
A) Black
B) Red
C) Blue
D) White
  • 11. Where are the original stage sculptures currently kept?
A) At the archaeological site office
B) Inside the peristyle house
C) In Madrid's National Archaeological Museum
D) National Museum of Roman Art
  • 12. Which goddess is specifically named among the stage sculptures?
A) Juno
B) Ceres
C) Athena
D) Venus
  • 13. Which god is specifically named among the stage sculptures?
A) Jupiter
B) Pluto
C) Mars
D) Neptune
  • 14. Besides Ceres and Pluto, which other mythological figure's statue is found on the stage?
A) Diana
B) Apollo
C) Hercules
D) Proserpina
  • 15. How many doors allow the entry of actors onto the stage?
A) Three
B) One
C) Four
D) Two
  • 16. What is the name of the central door on the stage?
A) Pulpitum
B) Valva regia
C) Valva hospitalium
D) Porticus post scaenam
  • 17. What are the lateral doors on the stage called?
A) Porticus
B) Pulpitum
C) Valva regia
D) Valva hospitalium
  • 18. Under which Emperor does the present stage front seem to have been built?
A) Emperor Constantine
B) Emperor Caesar Augustus
C) Emperor Nero
D) Emperor Trajan
  • 19. What is located behind the stage?
A) A garden area surrounded by columns and a quadrangular portico
B) A public bathhouse
C) An imperial palace
D) A large amphitheatre
  • 20. What was the peristyle used as?
A) A training ground for gladiators
B) A storage facility for props
C) A recreation area
D) A marketplace
  • 21. What was the small room at the bottom of the peristyle garden dedicated to?
A) Storing theatrical costumes
B) The imperial cult
C) Meeting rooms for magistrates
D) The worship of Ceres
  • 22. Whose sculptural portrait was found in the room dedicated to the imperial cult?
A) Emperor Hadrian as a philosopher
B) Caesar Augustus dressed as pontiff maximus
C) Emperor Trajan in military armor
D) Julius Caesar with a laurel wreath
  • 23. What is located in the northern corner of the peristyle, high above the garden?
A) Dressing rooms
B) A watchtower
C) Latrines
D) A shrine to Pluto
  • 24. What was built to the west after the abandonment of the theatre?
A) A fortification
B) A market
C) A temple
D) A house
  • 25. What do the murals in the rooms of the house west of the peristyle depict?
A) Mythological beasts
B) Scenes from Roman comedies
C) Geometric patterns and landscapes
D) Life-size human figures
  • 26. Until what time period were the 'Seven Chairs' visible as remains of the theater?
A) Early 18th century
B) Late 19th century
C) Mid medieval period
D) Late 20th century
  • 27. What did the 'Seven Chairs' consist of?
A) Statues of the imperial family
B) Stones from the valva regia
C) Columns from the stage front
D) Remains of the tops of the bleachers
  • 28. What made up the façade of the building before excavations?
A) A red marble paved stone foundation
B) A wooden portico structure
C) A formed concrete base covered with granite blocks
D) A marble wall with Corinthian columns
  • 29. In what year did excavations of the theater begin?
A) 1933
B) 1960
C) 1910
D) 1899
  • 30. Who directed the excavations of the theater starting in 1910?
A) Caesar Augustus
B) José Menéndez Pidal y Álvarez
C) Emperor Trajan
D) José Ramón Mélida
  • 31. When was the excavated theater first used to stage a production?
A) 1890
B) 1933
C) 1965
D) 1910
  • 32. Who directed the rebuilding of the front stage in the 1960s and 1970s?
A) Emperor Trajan
B) Caesar Augustus
C) José Ramón Mélida
D) José Menéndez Pidal y Álvarez
  • 33. What is the most visited monument in the city?
A) The peristyle house
B) The amphitheatre
C) The National Museum of Roman Art
D) The Roman Theatre
  • 34. What festival has been held at the Roman Theatre since 1933?
A) Mérida Imperial Festival
B) National Festival of Roman Art
C) International Festival of Classical Theatre of Mérida
D) Classical Drama Festival of Spain
  • 35. What distinction does the Classical Theatre Festival of Mérida hold in Spain?
A) It is the largest film festival in Spain
B) It is the only festival held in a Roman ruin
C) It is the most expensive theatrical event in Spain
D) It is the oldest of its kind celebrated in Spain
  • 36. What was the ancient name of the Roman colonia where the theatre was built?
A) Lusitania
B) Emerita Augusta
C) Vitruvius
D) San Albin
  • 37. Who promoted the construction of the Roman Theatre of Mérida?
A) Constantine I
B) Vipsanius Agrippa
C) Emperor Trajan
D) Vitruvius
  • 38. In what years was the theatre built?
A) 330-340 CE
B) 1st century CE
C) 1993 CE
D) 16-15 BCE
  • 39. During the renovation under Constantine I, what was introduced around the monument?
A) A marble parapet
B) A semicircular dome ring
C) A walkway
D) The scaenae frons
  • 40. What was the upper tiers of seats called where only they remained visible?
A) Media cavea
B) Ima cavea
C) Cunei
D) Summa cavea
  • 41. According to tradition, who sat on 'The Seven Chairs' to decide the fate of the city?
A) Roman consuls
B) Emperors
C) Moorish kings
D) Architects
  • 42. When was the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO?
A) 16 BCE
B) 340 CE
C) 1933
D) 1993
  • 43. Where was the theatre located relative to the Roman city?
A) On the edge adjacent the city walls
B) Across the river away from the walls
C) In the absolute center of the city
D) Inside the emperor's private palace
  • 44. What is the name of the hill into which some of the theatre's seating was built?
A) Lusitania Heights
B) Cerro de San Albin
C) Emerita Hill
D) Vipsanius Hill
  • 45. The building's construction strictly followed the rules of the treatises of whom?
A) Vitruvius
B) Trajan
C) Agrippa
D) Constantine
  • 46. The structure of the Mérida theatre exhibits similarities with the theatre located in which French city?
A) Paris
B) Marseille
C) Lyon
D) Orange
  • 47. The structure of the Mérida theatre exhibits similarities with the theatre located in which Italian city?
A) Pompeii
B) Venice
C) Milan
D) Florence
  • 48. The structure of the Mérida theatre exhibits similarities with the theatre located in which Tunisian city?
A) Dougga
B) Carthage
C) Tunis
D) Sousse
  • 49. What is the shape of the grandstands cavea?
A) Circular
B) Semicircular
C) Rectangular
D) Oval
  • 50. What was the seating capacity of the theatre in its time?
A) 6,000
B) 50,000
C) 12,000
D) 3,000
  • 51. What is the approximate diameter of the theatre in meters?
A) 120 meters
B) 50 meters
C) 86 meters
D) 282 meters
  • 52. What is the approximate diameter of the theatre in feet?
A) 500 feet
B) 150 feet
C) 282 feet
D) 86 feet
  • 53. What is the name of the innermost seating area?
A) Media cavea
B) Ima cavea
C) Summa cavea
D) Cunei
  • 54. How many rows of seats are in the ima cavea?
A) 22 rows
B) 5 rows
C) 13 rows
D) 86 rows
  • 55. What is the name of the middle seating area?
A) Summa cavea
B) Ima cavea
C) Media cavea
D) Praecinctio
  • 56. How many rows of seats are in the media cavea?
A) 6 rows
B) 13 rows
C) 5 rows
D) 22 rows
  • 57. Who was seated in the first rows (ima cavea)?
A) Foreign visitors
B) The chorus
C) Wealthier social classes
D) Moorish kings
  • 58. Into how many radial sectors (cunei) is the first row area divided?
A) Thirteen
B) Five
C) Three
D) Six
  • 59. What is the horizontal corridor separating the ima cavea from the upper bleachers called?
A) Cavea
B) Scaenae frons
C) Cunei
D) Praecinctio
  • 60. How many doors at the top give access to a corridor covered by a semicircular dome ring?
A) Thirteen doors
B) Five doors
C) Six doors
D) Twenty-two doors
  • 61. How many outside doors facilitate access and entrance to the theatre in total?
A) Twenty-two
B) Thirteen
C) Five
D) Six
  • 62. What is the primary intended use of the orchestra space?
A) For the wealthier social classes
B) For Moorish kings
C) For the chorus
D) For the Roman emperors
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