Second Floor

Room I contains mainly epigraphs; these aim to illustrate civic and provincial administration in Augusta Mérida. This situation is reflected in the selected inscriptions. They refer to important figures such as the emperor and the provincial governor. Other inscriptions mention a number of municipal offices. The room is completed by a magnificent mosaic which came from the Roman villa called ‘Las Tiendas’, whose central scene depicts a boar hunt.

Room II is dedicated to land in the Colony, particularly agricultural exploitation. The luxurious country villas from the late Roman Empire are particularly notable in this regard; the archetype of this type of estate in the surrounding area is the villa called 'Las Tiendas', the source of a large number of the objects now held by the Museum. While the previous room featured a large mosaic with a hunting scene, this room contains a mosaic with a section in the centre depicting a nereid riding a sea lion and another in the background with a scene of hunting a panther.

In Room III, epigraphs once again predominate, but this time focusing on migration from Augusta Emerita to other cities and from other cities to the colony. In order to learn more about emigration from the city, see two of the room's four panels. Regarding immigration, the two other panels are augmented by the inscriptions exhibited in the room, which are mostly funerary.

Room IV focuses on professions, and epigraphs are again of great importance. In a colony of veterans like Augusta Emerita, soldiers made up the majority of the population. Such was the case with the Voconio family, who proudly displayed their military honours as part of their funeral inscription. Other well-documented professions vary widely, ranging from medicine to the hotel and catering trade.

Rooms V and VI are dedicated to private portraiture, Room V to female portraits and Room VI to male portraits. Among the female portraits, the most striking is the one popularly known as ‘La Gitana’ (‘The Gypsy’), whose nickname comes from her original hairstyle of curls and sideburns, a style typically associated with Hispania. In the realm of male portraiture, Room VI is centred on the bust of a man popularly known as ‘El Panadero’ (‘The Baker’) due to his resemblance to a person who was a baker in the city at the time the piece was found.

Room VII, titled Art and Culture, is intended to summarise the complex creative activities that took place in Augusta Emerita in many forms (music, philosophy, plastic arts, etc.). As an allusion to Roman interest in philosophy, a large mosaic is exhibited here, in which the Seven Wise Men of Greece discuss a passage from the Iliad. Room VIII concludes the thematic tour of the Second Floor with Christian Merida. This room serves as a link between the Museum and the Visigothic Collection, with exhibits ranging from epigraphs to some architectural elements notable for their ornamental decoration.

Since 2011, Room IX, has been used to host a series of temporary exhibitions produced here at the Museum. In these exhibitions, based mainly on pieces from our storage rooms, a long series of themes have been explored. Though these were perhaps not worthy of a place in the permanent exhibition, they were thought to be of possible interest to the public.

In Room X, the tour of the rooms concludes with what is known as the 'Mosaic of the Charioteers', a specimen of enormous size. Its name comes from its representation, on either side of a central tondo with a new Bacchic theme, of two portraits of the champions Paulus and Marcianus, posing victorious on their respective chariots.