Curia Julia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Curia Hostilia (Latin, "Hostilian Court") was the favorite meeting place of the Roman Senate in the Forum Romanum at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, near the well of the Comitia.
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[edit] History
[edit] Tuscan origins
Tradition held that it was built in the 6th century BC by the third King of Rome, Tullus Hostilius, hence the name.
[edit] Republic and early empire
The Curia Hostilia was the site of the irregular execution of the demagogue Lucius Appuleius Saturninus and his partisans, and burned down in 52 BC when a mob cremated the body of the demagogue Publius Clodius Pulcher inside it. A new building called the Curia Julia was financed by Julius Caesar during his dictatorship (although his murder in the meeting of the Senate on March 15, 44 BC, did not take place in the Curia Julia, but in the Theatre of Pompey), Augustus and Domitian. The Curia Julia was officially opened by Octavian in August of 29 BC. This is the building which still stands today.
[edit] Interior
The building is not really of monumental size: standing inside it one can see it is about the size of a basketball court, with two low raised platforms for seats on the sides. The floors were richly decorated in opus sectile, thin slices of different types of stone cut into geometric shapes which are then fitted together and set. It should be noted that all cinematographic presentations of the Senate relating to this period, showing it to be semi-circular, are therefore inaccurate.
[edit] Medieval survival
The Curia Hostilia as seen in the Forum Romanum owes its survival to the fact that in the early medieval period (658) it was converted into a Christian church; the remains of some Christian frescos are still visible in the alcoves on the walls.
[edit] Reconstruction
It was rebuilt, and returned to something approaching its original form during the reign of Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini, who wished to return Italy to the greatness it had seen during the Roman Empire.
