This ancient Roman temple to Diana built in the 1st century BCE in Extremadura, Mérida, Spain is just one of the many Roman buildings that you can visit
The temple was admired by many as one of the wonders of the ancient world. Among those were the Persians, the Macedonians and of course the Romans
So the town was founded by the advancing Romans in 25 BCE and given the name Augusta Emerita after Emperor Augusta
It was given over to veterans legions at the end of the Cantabrian wars
It became the capital of Lusitania a Roman province that also encompassed modern Portugal. It was so important and large enough in Iberia that it housed a Roman garrison of some 90,000 soldiers
It got a new lease of life when it was conquered by the Visigoths around the 7th Century CE
It is without a doubt the largest and most extensive archaeological site in Spain and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993