Comitium
Encyclopedia
The Comitium in Rome is the location of the original founding of the city. The area is marked by a number of shrines, temples, altars and churches today from throughout its history. The location was lost due to the cities growth and development over a thousand years, but was excavated at the turn of the twentieth century. It is the location of the Curia Julia
and its predecessor, the Curia Hostilia, the seat of the Roman Senate
. It was an open air market and gathering place, but was originally the meeting place of the Curiate Assembly
. It is located to the west of the Roman forum
and is today much reduced from its original size.
Before the Forum Romanum was fully developed the Comitium served as both a marketplace and seat of political power of the Roman Kingdom
and the Republic
. It served as a templum - a sacred space for ritual purposes - and it contained many of Rome's earliest monuments, including the Rostra
, Column Maenia, the Graecostasis
and Tabula valeria.
, and it had major religious and prophetic significance. It was the location for all political and judicial activity of the early Roman Kingdom
and Republic
. It is the historic meeting place of the comitia curiata
, the grown males of Rome
who met as the earliest assembly
of organised voting divisions of the republic. The senate
meeting house or curia
is associated with the comitium by both Livy
and Cicero
.
The comitium was the normal designated space in all Roman cities for contiones, assembling the eligible people for elections, councils and tribunals
. Like the forum, where temples
, commerce
, judicial, and city buildings were located, the comitium was designed as the center for politics. Romans tended to organize their needs into specific locations within the city. As the city grew, the powers of the curiata were transferred to the Comitia Centuriata, which meet outside the city. The comitium remained of importance for formal elections of some magistrates; however, as their importance decayed, so did the importance of the comitium.
The first use of the comitium as a political assembly area, along with the beginnings of Rome itself is blurred between legend and archaeological
discovery. The mythologies of King Servius Tullius
and Romulus
have many similarities regarding the origins of the Comitia. Romulus has often been interpreted as a copy of Tullius. Both were closely related to the god Vulcan
, played a role in organizing the comitia, and were depicted as founders of Rome. Other conflicting, or "duel" mythology include the supposed tomb of Romulus, who was struck and killed during the Sabine
conflict and was buried under the Vulcanal
. Other legends state that he was only wounded and that spot was where Faustulus
was killed separating the twins during combat. Many of the legends themselves transferred to the comitum from the Palatine. The pomeriam where Remus is said to have lept as well as the Ficus Ruminalis
and the sculpture of the she-wolf suckling the twins have competing legends. The original Palatine settlement, the Roma Quatrata, contained the relics of Romulus. An extension of the square city is seen in the "Septimontium
", the original seven hills.
The earliest history of the comitium space is considered more legend than history, however, many facts have been extrapolated from the writings that have survived. It is believed to have been a wooded area near an ivy covered cave, where the first senators met in a small hut wearing sheep skins. Legend says that Tarpeia
was drawing water from a spring here when she saw Tatius for the first time. The location is one of just a few sites related to the founding of the city and attributed to Romulus
in a number of ways.
The comitium contains the earliest surviving document of the Roman State. A cippus found on the second stratigraphic level, dated to 450 BC, informs citizens
of their civic duties.
Roman tribunals began in the comitium before other alternative locations became acceptable. Eventually such trials would be moved to the Basilicas or the forum with the exception of more elaborate affairs. The site had a number or temporary wooden structures that could be taken down during the flood season. Court would general consist of a magistrate, the condemned (generally kept in a cage below the elevated platform) his representation and the prosecutor. The Rostra vetera
was a permanent tribunal eventually made into a war monument but still within the comitium templum. The rostra itself may have been considered a templum.
The site has been used for capital punishment as well as to display the bodies and limbs of defeated political opponents and funerals. Both the forum and comitium had been used for public exhibitions.
at the founding of the city when he sent for Auger
s of Etruria. A circular trench was cut into the ground and votive offerings and samples of earth from each area the holy men had traveled from, placed within. The ditch is called mundus- the same name given firmament (Ολυφπος). From the mundus as the center a plough was pulled by bull to mark out the circuit of the wall, with spots for gates left unploughed by lifting the tool to make a break, all else was considered consecrated. It was the traditional center of the city as it was in the original Palatine settlement. The Umbilicus urbis Romae marks the center of Rome. The Augustan rostra, Umbilicus and Milliarium Aureum are believed to have formed a single monument. The ideal of the mundus is old and can be traced back to Etruria. Considered the gateway to the underworld, several mundus are mentioned in ancient writings that were located in the city of Rome, including the Palatine and comitium. Early remains of the Vulcanal
, a series of shrines in a single spot may mark the location where the king handed over power to the senate.
The senate council probably began meeting within an old Etruscan temple on the north side of the comitium identified as belonging to the Curia Hostilia from the seventh century BC. Tradition holds that Tullus Hostilius
built or refurbished this structure. A royal complex may have existed near the House of the Vestal Virgins
on one end of the Forum Romanum
. The early forum contained private atrium homes, schools and shops that were eventually bought up by the state as public space.
At one point the comitium had sunken rounded steps creating an amphitheater directly in front of the senate house, that was added and then later buried or leveled. Other Republican cities such as Cosa and Paestum (Poseidonia) have similar rounded, stepped comitiums that can be seen in excavations today.
When Rome became a republic, the original altar and shrine of Vulcan may have served as a podium for senators or political opponents. Next to this spot is where the rostra has its early beginnings. It is believed that the tradition of speaking to crowds from an elevated platform for political purposes may have begun as early as the first king of Rome.
A platform for the great speakers of the republic has always existed within the comitium and it is believed that the Vulcanal
and the rostra may well have existed together at one point. The comitium was laid out before the time of the curia as a structure and is at this location that the curia assembled even before its augering. The altar originally served as an altar to Vulcan
. Several items were unearthed under the marble pavement. The base of an honorary column, a stele with the earliest Latin inscription ever found referring to a "King
", or "Rex
" along with small votive statues and curses warning anyone who may disturb the site were excavated. It was likely destroyed in a fire or sacking of the city, and was buried along with the rest of the site to raise the level above the remains, common practice in ancient Rome. In this spot were the black marble slabs, which had a small retaining wall to keep people off. This spot became the Lapis Niger
in later times, covering over what was left of the vulcanal after a disaster of some form.
In this area was another raised platform for speakers, with ascending and descending stairs on either side. The idea of speaking from a raised area is still seen today in pulpits. The first structure to be called "Rostra" was on the south east section of the forecourt of the Curia Hostilia at the edge of the Comitium. As the population grew and not all Romans could fit in the comitium, speakers in the later republic would turn their backs on the curia and crowds within the comitium and direct their speech from the rostra to the crowd in the Forum. Plutarch says in the life of Gaius Gracchus
that up until the time of Gaius Gracchus, orators would face the comitium while speaking. According to Plutarch, the senate was located in the direction of the comitium (to the right of the orator) while the people where located in the opposite direction (to the left).
e. The curiae were organized on the basis of early Roman families, the thirty original Patrician (aristocratic) clans. The Curiae assembled into the Curiate Assembly, for political need. The Century Assembly
, the comitia centuriata or "army Assembly" of the Roman Republic was the assembly of the soldiers of Rome organized on the basis of property. Citizens, organized on the basis of centuries for military purposes assembled as the century assembly for all legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The Tribal Assembly
or comitia tributa was the assembly of all citizens based on domicile in the city of Rome. During the Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes four for those living inside and thirty-one for those living outside the city walls. The Tribes gathered for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. Each Tribe received one vote. Once a majority of Tribes voted in the same way, the voting ended, and the matter was decided.
The curiate assembly met in the comitium. The centuriate assembly met at the Campus Martius
, or Fields of Mars, because it was a meeting of the army which could not meet within the actual City of Rome. As the centuriate assembly began to dominate Roman politics, the curiate assembly met less and less, meaning that the comitium was used less.
With the majority of assemblies outside the comitium and the importance of the few that still took place, the area became a location where many monuments, shrines and memorials of great importance were located. Statues to murdered ambassadors, ancient augers and the most recent consuls were located in the large fenced off space. Pompey Magnus had erected an equestrian statue of himself on the rostra which was removed after the leader was chased out of the city, but was returned to the relocated rostra by Caesar after his murder in Alexandria. The consul Maenius donated a column said to have a base large enough for his family and heirs to sit upon to watch the games and festivals in the comitium and forum.
began to effect the power structure of Rome.
All of the city's most important decisions and laws were made in the senate. A law required that any bill not approved within an augered and consecrated space was not valid. For this reason all meeting spaces of the Senate were templums. Over time as the senate's size and power increased, so did the size of the senate house. In 80 BC the curia was enlarged by Sulla who also added heating to the building for the first time.
After the Curia Hostilia was destroyed in 52 BC, the newly constructed curia occupied even more space within the comitium. Cicero writes that the curia seemed to loom over the rostra, indicating the proximity of the senate building to the speakers platform of his time.
by Brutus
, the Senate took over the governance of Rome. The first of the Republican Curia buildings
was the Curia Hostilia which sat in this area aligned to the points of the compass. An official would announce the time according to the position of the sun between the Rostra and the Lapis Niger at midday and when it was between the Column Maenian and the Basilica Porcia to mark the close of the day. The use of the term curia is directly linked to the comitium and its use as a place of assembly of the people during elections.
The first senate met as a simple council to the Roman king, meeting in an Etruscan temple converted or built for the purpose of gathering the oldest and wisest men of the city. The senate house was refurbished, built over and enlarged several times. Its form is set by the traditions of Roman architecture for such structures. An larger structure was built by a relative of Sulla and removed within a decade by Caesar. It was built with its front within the templum area of the comitium space.
.
was elected Tribune and introduced a bill in the assembly of people that would drastically reduce the amount of state-owned land. He then made an unconstitutional attempt to run for office again. The senate resented the way he went around them and feared he was attempting to grab power for himself as king and murdered Tiberius on election day amid violence that had erupted on the streets led by Scipio Nasica
.
returned to Rome and began to initiate many of his brother's proposals with even more far-reaching legislative goals. Since the Republican era after 338 BC, all political orations were given from a war memorial that was named after the trophies mounted to its side. The rostra (or ship rams, sometimes called "beaks") from the captured ships of the Antiates were displayed on a platform that may have been a gilded wooden structure at its early stage resembling a pulpit. The orator would stand upon the platform on the south end of the comitium and speak towards the north to the Curia Hostilia and the senate. Behind the speaker the crowds of the Forum Romanum would sometimes gather and listen as the politician spoke with his back to the people while addressing the government. During his campaign to change the court system he charged with illegal executions without the consent of the people, Gracchus is infamous for his refusal to stay within tradition and turned away from the senate who he was opposing and spoke directly to the people of Rome assembled outside of the consecrated templum.
The city of Rome went through years of turmoil along with the Republic. Most famous of these inner struggles was between consuls, Sulla against Marius
and Cinna
. These political civil wars were fought in the senate house, (once having the roof dismantled to use as missiles against the opponents held up inside) the comitium, the rostra and on many of the streets of the city. Both consuls gained and lost control until Marius' death in 86 BC at the age of 70. Sulla then took revenge on the slaughter of his supporters by condemning those in Marius' circle, including a young Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius' as well as married to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia
.
In 55 BC a political war broke out within the city that centered around two factions, Clodius
with his followers and his adversary Milo
, backed by his supporters. The rostra became a fortress and was more than once used to throw deadly missiles upon the opposing side. On January 2, 52 BC, Clodius died at the hands of the opponents mob near Bovillae, setting off a riot as the Clodius faction carried the body to the comitium and cremated it on a funeral pyre improvised with the senatorial seating from the Curia Hostilia. The fire consumed the curia, destroying it as well as damaging the Basilica Porcia. Faustus Sulla, son of the dictator Sulla
was commissioned by the senate to rebuild the curia. It lasted for only seven years until Julius Caesar began his changes.
. The family was not wealthy or influential at the time of his birth. His father only reached the position of praetor
. Caesar's rise to power as a military general along with his successful campaigns led to sharing of power within the Republic known as the First Triumvirate
. The shared power did not last and Caesar took measures to insure his placement as dictator for life. He began many building projects to emulate prior dictators such as Sulla and Marius who had initiated changes within the comitium. One of Caesar's plans was to remove or replace the Rostra Vetera, level the comitium and dismantle the curia and realign it with the new rostra.
An episode that may have contributed to the Liberatores conspiracy against Caesar was on the occasion of the festival of the Lycea, or Lupercalia
. Mark Antony, as one of the participants, approached Caesar while he sat in the comitium on the rostra. Antony ceremoniously attempted to place a laurel wreath on Caesar's head. Caesar theatrically refused, and received applause from the people. This was done several times until the wreath was finally placed upon the head of a statue of Caesar which was then immediately torn down by the tribunes of the people who were later removed from their office.
. It was the first time Cicero spoke from the rostra. The Philippic
s became one the most popular writings of the orator. The works marked a return to active politics in 43 BC after a long retirement. In them, he attacked Mark Antony as the greatest threat to republican government after Caesar's death. He wrote of the libertas or freedoms that the citizens of Rome had forfeited under Julius Caesar and violently denounced Mark Antony. He made at least one of these epic speeches from the rostra.
When the conspirators had all been defeated, Augustus had tried but failed to keep Cicero's name off the death list. Eventually Antony wins and has the orator's head and hands displayed on the rostra.
where the emperors began to construct ever larger monuments to themselves.
and a fig tree associated with the auger stood on the left of the curia steps.
There were four sacred fig trees in the city, three of which were within the forum area. A tree planted near the Temple of Saturn
was removed when its root system began undermining a valued statue. In the medio foro a fig tree stood aside an olive tree and a grape vine. Verrius Flaccus, Pliny and Tacitus
state that a third tree stood in the comitium near the statue of the auger Attus Navia who, legend says, split a wet stone with a razor in the comitium and transferred the Ficus ruminalis or its sacred importance from the banks of the to the assembly area. Scholars still refer to the ficus navia as the ficus ruminalis while excepting the difference.
Livy
reports that a statue to Publius Horatius Cocles was erected in the comitium.
The column of Maenian, an honorary column, was also located very close to these monuments. The area is where the dictator Cornelius held his tribunals. A tribunal is depicted on the Anaglypha Traiani (two marble fence panels now displayed in the Curia Julia) along with the ficus navia and statue to the far right on one panel.
was located on the west side of the comitium - it may well be placed so those in attendance in the stands could listen to the speakers on the Rostra as well as still face the curia.
erected a column that some historians believe to be from the atrium of his home which was sold to Cato
and Flaccus
as mentioned in Ps.-Asc. Caec. 50. Pliny
states that the accensus consulum announced the supremam horam, the time when the sun had moved downward from the Columna Maenia to the Carcer. This was done from the same location as the call for midday, the Curia. The column was south of the place of observation or on a line which passed from the Rostra and Graecostasis.
placed a painting of his victory over Heiro and the Carthaginians in Sicily, on the side of the ancient curia. Samuel Ball Platner states in his book, The topography and monuments of ancient Rome (1911):
. The focus shifted to the forum where Caesar and Augustus had moved many of the monuments of the comitium. The equestrian statue of Pompey, was displayed on the new rostra moved by Caesar in 44 BC. Structures were dismantled or relocated and the smaller area was simply built over with the Arch of Septimius Severus
and a roadway. The comitium space faded from importance to such a point, that the single most important monument, the vulcanal, slowly faded from memory. As ground levels rose from sedimentary deposits due to flooding, the Lapis Niger, where the king handed over power to the senate, was lost for 2000 years.
During the Middle Ages artifacts from the ancient Roman civilization sparked curiosity with collectors. Early digging throughout Europe amounted to little more than destructive treasure hunting and grave robbing. Formal archaeology didn't begin in Rome until the 19th century with the foundation of the Instituto di Corrrispondenza and the work of Edward Gerhard
. Starting with museums rather than excavation, archaeological work began by studying and cataloguing existing collections as background knowledge for the philological study of antiquity.
A number of German archaeologists joined Gerhard to map out the city of Rome, the forum and the comitium being of great importance as the topographical center. He was joined by Chevalier Bunsen, Earnst Platner, Wilhelm Röstell, B. G. Niebuhr and Friedrich Hoffmann
in beginning the book Beschreibung der Stadt Rom in 1817 which was published in 1832. The theories presented did not have full support from their peers. In his book, A dictionary of Greek and Roman geography published in 1854, Sir William Smith remarked:
No major excavation of the site was undertaken until the turn of the century. Previous digs had only uncovered as far back as the late empire. Such was the case in 1870 when later pavements or structures were located and digging was stopped by request for viewing and study and never resumed. In 1898, a committee was established to examine and study the earlier architectural fragments to establish an order for restoration of ancient buildings. It was discovered quickly that new and more detailed excavations would be required. Also in 1898, G. Boni
requested tramway in front of the church of Sant'Adriano al Foro
be removed. His request was met in October and substantial new funds were made available an extended excavation. In December 1898, excavations began. Between 1899 and 1903 he and his collaborators discovered the Lapis Niger
(the "Black Rock") as well as other artifacts while excavating the comitium. During the medieval period the comitium space had been turned into a Christian cemetery and part of the curia made into a catacomb. Consequently, over 400 bodies were unearthed and moved during excavations.
In the American Journal of Archaeology
, second series, volume 4 1900, a letter from Samuel Ball Platner
was published dated July 1, 1899. In the letter he stated:
of Cosa
in modern Tuscany
identified the remains of the city's comitium and found rounded amphitheatre steps directly in front of the local senate house. The discovery prompted further excavations in Rome at the site of the comitium space in 1957. Cosa is located 138 kilometres (85.7 mi) northwest of Rome along the coast of Italy. It was established in 237 BC as a military outpost to control territory of the recently conquered Etruscans. The city's port and town features were laid out in the third century BC using regular town plans with intersecting streets at right angles and forum and cult center on the arx.
----
Curia Julia
The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or 'curia' of the Roman Republic. It is believed to have begun as an Etruscan temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus . During the early kingdom, the temple was for the use of the Senators who acted as...
and its predecessor, the Curia Hostilia, the seat of the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
. It was an open air market and gathering place, but was originally the meeting place of the Curiate Assembly
Curiate Assembly
The Curiate Assembly was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curia"...
. It is located to the west of the Roman forum
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
and is today much reduced from its original size.
Before the Forum Romanum was fully developed the Comitium served as both a marketplace and seat of political power of the Roman Kingdom
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories....
and the Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. It served as a templum - a sacred space for ritual purposes - and it contained many of Rome's earliest monuments, including the Rostra
Rostra
The Rōstra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between...
, Column Maenia, the Graecostasis
Graecostasis
The Graecostasis was a platform in the Comitium near the Roman forum, located to the west of the Rostra. The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was originally built after the Roman Republic conquered Greece...
and Tabula valeria.
Overview
The Comitium was the original public spaces in ancient RomeAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, and it had major religious and prophetic significance. It was the location for all political and judicial activity of the early Roman Kingdom
Roman Kingdom
The Roman Kingdom was the period of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a monarchical form of government of the city of Rome and its territories....
and Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
. It is the historic meeting place of the comitia curiata
Curiate Assembly
The Curiate Assembly was the principal assembly during the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these first decades, the People of Rome were organized into thirty units called "Curia"...
, the grown males of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
who met as the earliest assembly
Popular assembly
A popular or people's assembly is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Assemblies tend to be freely open to participation and operate by direct democracy...
of organised voting divisions of the republic. The senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
meeting house or curia
Curia Julia
The Curia Hostilia was one of the original senate houses or 'curia' of the Roman Republic. It is believed to have begun as an Etruscan temple where the warring tribes laid down their arms during the reign of Romulus . During the early kingdom, the temple was for the use of the Senators who acted as...
is associated with the comitium by both Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
.
The comitium was the normal designated space in all Roman cities for contiones, assembling the eligible people for elections, councils and tribunals
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
. Like the forum, where temples
Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was...
, commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
, judicial, and city buildings were located, the comitium was designed as the center for politics. Romans tended to organize their needs into specific locations within the city. As the city grew, the powers of the curiata were transferred to the Comitia Centuriata, which meet outside the city. The comitium remained of importance for formal elections of some magistrates; however, as their importance decayed, so did the importance of the comitium.
The first use of the comitium as a political assembly area, along with the beginnings of Rome itself is blurred between legend and archaeological
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
discovery. The mythologies of King Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius
Servius Tullius was the legendary sixth king of ancient Rome, and the second of its Etruscan dynasty. He reigned 578-535 BC. Roman and Greek sources describe his servile origins and later marriage to a daughter of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Rome's first Etruscan king, who was assassinated in 579 BC...
and Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
have many similarities regarding the origins of the Comitia. Romulus has often been interpreted as a copy of Tullius. Both were closely related to the god Vulcan
Vulcan (mythology)
Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
, played a role in organizing the comitia, and were depicted as founders of Rome. Other conflicting, or "duel" mythology include the supposed tomb of Romulus, who was struck and killed during the Sabine
Sabine
The Sabines were an Italic tribe that lived in the central Appennines of ancient Italy, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome...
conflict and was buried under the Vulcanal
Vulcanal
The Shrine of Vulcan — or Vulcanal, or Volcanal — was an 8th century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum...
. Other legends state that he was only wounded and that spot was where Faustulus
Faustulus
In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infants Romulus and Remus, who were being suckled by a she-wolf, known as Lupa, on the Palatine Hill. He, with his wife, Acca Larentia, raised the children. In some versions of the myth, Larentia was a prostitute...
was killed separating the twins during combat. Many of the legends themselves transferred to the comitum from the Palatine. The pomeriam where Remus is said to have lept as well as the Ficus Ruminalis
Ficus Ruminalis
The Ficus Ruminalis was a wild fig tree on the Palatine Hill in ancient Rome near the Lupercal on the Palatine. This tree was said to be sacred to the goddess Rumina...
and the sculpture of the she-wolf suckling the twins have competing legends. The original Palatine settlement, the Roma Quatrata, contained the relics of Romulus. An extension of the square city is seen in the "Septimontium
Septimontium
The Septimontium was a Roman festival of the seven hills of Rome. It was celebrated in September . They sacrificed seven animals at seven times in seven different places within the walls of the city near the seven hills. On that day the emperors were very liberal to the people...
", the original seven hills.
The earliest history of the comitium space is considered more legend than history, however, many facts have been extrapolated from the writings that have survived. It is believed to have been a wooded area near an ivy covered cave, where the first senators met in a small hut wearing sheep skins. Legend says that Tarpeia
Tarpeia
In Roman mythology, Tarpeia was a Roman maiden who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines in exchange for what she thought would be a reward of jewellery...
was drawing water from a spring here when she saw Tatius for the first time. The location is one of just a few sites related to the founding of the city and attributed to Romulus
Romulus
- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...
in a number of ways.
The comitium contains the earliest surviving document of the Roman State. A cippus found on the second stratigraphic level, dated to 450 BC, informs citizens
Roman citizenship
Citizenship in ancient Rome was a privileged political and legal status afforded to certain free-born individuals with respect to laws, property, and governance....
of their civic duties.
Roman tribunals began in the comitium before other alternative locations became acceptable. Eventually such trials would be moved to the Basilicas or the forum with the exception of more elaborate affairs. The site had a number or temporary wooden structures that could be taken down during the flood season. Court would general consist of a magistrate, the condemned (generally kept in a cage below the elevated platform) his representation and the prosecutor. The Rostra vetera
Rostra
The Rōstra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between...
was a permanent tribunal eventually made into a war monument but still within the comitium templum. The rostra itself may have been considered a templum.
The site has been used for capital punishment as well as to display the bodies and limbs of defeated political opponents and funerals. Both the forum and comitium had been used for public exhibitions.
Kingdom
The square site was traced by Romulus using divinationDivination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
at the founding of the city when he sent for Auger
Auger
An auger is a drilling device, or drill bit, that usually includes a rotating helical screw blade called a "flighting" to act as a screw conveyor to remove the drilled out material...
s of Etruria. A circular trench was cut into the ground and votive offerings and samples of earth from each area the holy men had traveled from, placed within. The ditch is called mundus- the same name given firmament (Ολυφπος). From the mundus as the center a plough was pulled by bull to mark out the circuit of the wall, with spots for gates left unploughed by lifting the tool to make a break, all else was considered consecrated. It was the traditional center of the city as it was in the original Palatine settlement. The Umbilicus urbis Romae marks the center of Rome. The Augustan rostra, Umbilicus and Milliarium Aureum are believed to have formed a single monument. The ideal of the mundus is old and can be traced back to Etruria. Considered the gateway to the underworld, several mundus are mentioned in ancient writings that were located in the city of Rome, including the Palatine and comitium. Early remains of the Vulcanal
Vulcanal
The Shrine of Vulcan — or Vulcanal, or Volcanal — was an 8th century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum...
, a series of shrines in a single spot may mark the location where the king handed over power to the senate.
The senate council probably began meeting within an old Etruscan temple on the north side of the comitium identified as belonging to the Curia Hostilia from the seventh century BC. Tradition holds that Tullus Hostilius
Tullus Hostilius
Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius...
built or refurbished this structure. A royal complex may have existed near the House of the Vestal Virgins
House of the Vestals
The House of the Vestal Virgins was the place where Vestal Virgins lived. It was located just behind their circular Temple of Vesta at the eastern edge of the Roman Forum, between the Regia and the Palatine Hill, in Rome...
on one end of the Forum Romanum
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
. The early forum contained private atrium homes, schools and shops that were eventually bought up by the state as public space.
At one point the comitium had sunken rounded steps creating an amphitheater directly in front of the senate house, that was added and then later buried or leveled. Other Republican cities such as Cosa and Paestum (Poseidonia) have similar rounded, stepped comitiums that can be seen in excavations today.
The Vulcanal and the Lapis Niger
- Main articles: VulcanalVulcanalThe Shrine of Vulcan — or Vulcanal, or Volcanal — was an 8th century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum...
and Lapis NigerLapis NigerThe Lapis Niger is an ancient shrine in the Roman Forum. Together with the associated Vulcanal it constitutes the only surviving remnants of the old Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum and is thought to derive from an archaic cult site of the 7th or 8th century BC.The black...
A platform for the great speakers of the republic has always existed within the comitium and it is believed that the Vulcanal
Vulcanal
The Shrine of Vulcan — or Vulcanal, or Volcanal — was an 8th century BC sacred precinct on the future site of the Roman Forum...
and the rostra may well have existed together at one point. The comitium was laid out before the time of the curia as a structure and is at this location that the curia assembled even before its augering. The altar originally served as an altar to Vulcan
Vulcan (mythology)
Vulcan , aka Mulciber, is the god of beneficial and hindering fire, including the fire of volcanoes in ancient Roman religion and Roman Neopaganism. Vulcan is usually depicted with a thunderbolt. He is known as Sethlans in Etruscan mythology...
. Several items were unearthed under the marble pavement. The base of an honorary column, a stele with the earliest Latin inscription ever found referring to a "King
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
", or "Rex
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
" along with small votive statues and curses warning anyone who may disturb the site were excavated. It was likely destroyed in a fire or sacking of the city, and was buried along with the rest of the site to raise the level above the remains, common practice in ancient Rome. In this spot were the black marble slabs, which had a small retaining wall to keep people off. This spot became the Lapis Niger
Lapis Niger
The Lapis Niger is an ancient shrine in the Roman Forum. Together with the associated Vulcanal it constitutes the only surviving remnants of the old Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum and is thought to derive from an archaic cult site of the 7th or 8th century BC.The black...
in later times, covering over what was left of the vulcanal after a disaster of some form.
In this area was another raised platform for speakers, with ascending and descending stairs on either side. The idea of speaking from a raised area is still seen today in pulpits. The first structure to be called "Rostra" was on the south east section of the forecourt of the Curia Hostilia at the edge of the Comitium. As the population grew and not all Romans could fit in the comitium, speakers in the later republic would turn their backs on the curia and crowds within the comitium and direct their speech from the rostra to the crowd in the Forum. Plutarch says in the life of Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populari politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the ill-fated reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus...
that up until the time of Gaius Gracchus, orators would face the comitium while speaking. According to Plutarch, the senate was located in the direction of the comitium (to the right of the orator) while the people where located in the opposite direction (to the left).
Assemblies
The terms curia and comitium both relate to people gathering together in a single location for a purpose. The Comitia Curiata (curiate assembly), was the main assembly for the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these this time, the Roman people were divided into thirty organized units called curiaCuria
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
e. The curiae were organized on the basis of early Roman families, the thirty original Patrician (aristocratic) clans. The Curiae assembled into the Curiate Assembly, for political need. The Century Assembly
Century Assembly
The Century Assembly of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of Roman soldiers. During the years of the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of Centuries for military purposes. The Centuries gathered into the Century Assembly for legislative, electoral, and judicial...
, the comitia centuriata or "army Assembly" of the Roman Republic was the assembly of the soldiers of Rome organized on the basis of property. Citizens, organized on the basis of centuries for military purposes assembled as the century assembly for all legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. The Tribal Assembly
Tribal Assembly
The Tribal Assembly of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of Roman citizens. During the years of the Roman Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes: Four Tribes encompassed citizens inside the city of Rome, while the other thirty-one Tribes encompassed...
or comitia tributa was the assembly of all citizens based on domicile in the city of Rome. During the Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes four for those living inside and thirty-one for those living outside the city walls. The Tribes gathered for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. Each Tribe received one vote. Once a majority of Tribes voted in the same way, the voting ended, and the matter was decided.
The curiate assembly met in the comitium. The centuriate assembly met at the Campus Martius
Campus Martius
The Campus Martius , was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome...
, or Fields of Mars, because it was a meeting of the army which could not meet within the actual City of Rome. As the centuriate assembly began to dominate Roman politics, the curiate assembly met less and less, meaning that the comitium was used less.
With the majority of assemblies outside the comitium and the importance of the few that still took place, the area became a location where many monuments, shrines and memorials of great importance were located. Statues to murdered ambassadors, ancient augers and the most recent consuls were located in the large fenced off space. Pompey Magnus had erected an equestrian statue of himself on the rostra which was removed after the leader was chased out of the city, but was returned to the relocated rostra by Caesar after his murder in Alexandria. The consul Maenius donated a column said to have a base large enough for his family and heirs to sit upon to watch the games and festivals in the comitium and forum.
Senate
The Senate began as little more than a council to the king. During the early republic, the senate still held little power, the executive magistrates did. By the middle republic, the senate was at the apex of its dominance. In the late republic, reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius GracchusGaius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populari politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the ill-fated reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus...
began to effect the power structure of Rome.
All of the city's most important decisions and laws were made in the senate. A law required that any bill not approved within an augered and consecrated space was not valid. For this reason all meeting spaces of the Senate were templums. Over time as the senate's size and power increased, so did the size of the senate house. In 80 BC the curia was enlarged by Sulla who also added heating to the building for the first time.
After the Curia Hostilia was destroyed in 52 BC, the newly constructed curia occupied even more space within the comitium. Cicero writes that the curia seemed to loom over the rostra, indicating the proximity of the senate building to the speakers platform of his time.
Senate house
This area was sacred as a meeting place of the Roman people long before the Republic. Eventually a permanent structure was built to house the senate, which acted as council to the king. With the overthrow of the last TarquinTarquin
Tarquin may refer to:* Tarquin , a chamber operaPeople with the given name Tarquin:* Tarquin the Elder , fifth of the seven legendary kings of Rome* Tarquin the Proud , last of the seven legendary kings of Rome...
by Brutus
Brutus
Brutus is the cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic. The plural of Brutus is Bruti, and the vocative form is Brute, as immortalized in the quotation "Et tu, Brute?", from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar....
, the Senate took over the governance of Rome. The first of the Republican Curia buildings
Curia (disambiguation)
Curia may refer to:in Roman antiquity*Curia, one of the ten subdivisions of each of the three Roman tribes. Also of similar divisions in other cities.*The building belonging to a Roman curia, serving mainly as its place of worship, see Ancient Roman religion...
was the Curia Hostilia which sat in this area aligned to the points of the compass. An official would announce the time according to the position of the sun between the Rostra and the Lapis Niger at midday and when it was between the Column Maenian and the Basilica Porcia to mark the close of the day. The use of the term curia is directly linked to the comitium and its use as a place of assembly of the people during elections.
The first senate met as a simple council to the Roman king, meeting in an Etruscan temple converted or built for the purpose of gathering the oldest and wisest men of the city. The senate house was refurbished, built over and enlarged several times. Its form is set by the traditions of Roman architecture for such structures. An larger structure was built by a relative of Sulla and removed within a decade by Caesar. It was built with its front within the templum area of the comitium space.
Republic
The Roman Republic had many victories and many setbacks. The aristocracy tried more and more to restrict power to the few elite classes of political, social and economic favor. The republic expanded its territory and conquered many lands including the ancient Greeks. It is from the comitium that this power was exercised and where ambassadors from all the Roman territories would come and be greeted upon the GraecostasisGraecostasis
The Graecostasis was a platform in the Comitium near the Roman forum, located to the west of the Rostra. The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was originally built after the Roman Republic conquered Greece...
.
Political upheaval
In 133 BC Tiberius GracchusTiberius Gracchus
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populares politician of the 2nd century BC and brother of Gaius Gracchus. As a plebeian tribune, his reforms of agrarian legislation caused political turmoil in the Republic. These reforms threatened the holdings of rich landowners in Italy...
was elected Tribune and introduced a bill in the assembly of people that would drastically reduce the amount of state-owned land. He then made an unconstitutional attempt to run for office again. The senate resented the way he went around them and feared he was attempting to grab power for himself as king and murdered Tiberius on election day amid violence that had erupted on the streets led by Scipio Nasica
Scipio Nasica
Scipio Nasica may refer to:* Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica , consul of Ancient Rome in 191 BC* Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum , his son, twice consul of Ancient Rome in 162 BC and 155 BC...
.
The rostra and Gaius Gracchus
After the violence of his brother's death, Gaius GracchusGaius Gracchus
Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Populari politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the ill-fated reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus...
returned to Rome and began to initiate many of his brother's proposals with even more far-reaching legislative goals. Since the Republican era after 338 BC, all political orations were given from a war memorial that was named after the trophies mounted to its side. The rostra (or ship rams, sometimes called "beaks") from the captured ships of the Antiates were displayed on a platform that may have been a gilded wooden structure at its early stage resembling a pulpit. The orator would stand upon the platform on the south end of the comitium and speak towards the north to the Curia Hostilia and the senate. Behind the speaker the crowds of the Forum Romanum would sometimes gather and listen as the politician spoke with his back to the people while addressing the government. During his campaign to change the court system he charged with illegal executions without the consent of the people, Gracchus is infamous for his refusal to stay within tradition and turned away from the senate who he was opposing and spoke directly to the people of Rome assembled outside of the consecrated templum.
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. He was elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic reforms of Roman armies, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens, eliminating the manipular military formations, and reorganizing the...
and Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna
Lucius Cornelius Cinna was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelii gens....
. These political civil wars were fought in the senate house, (once having the roof dismantled to use as missiles against the opponents held up inside) the comitium, the rostra and on many of the streets of the city. Both consuls gained and lost control until Marius' death in 86 BC at the age of 70. Sulla then took revenge on the slaughter of his supporters by condemning those in Marius' circle, including a young Julius Caesar, the nephew of Marius' as well as married to Cinna's daughter, Cornelia
Cornelia Cinna minor
Cornelia Cinnilla , daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna , and a sister to suffect consul Lucius Cornelius Cinna, was married to Gaius Julius Caesar, who would become one of Rome's greatest conquerors and its dictator...
.
In 55 BC a political war broke out within the city that centered around two factions, Clodius
Publius Clodius Pulcher
Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...
with his followers and his adversary Milo
Titus Annius Milo
Titus Annius Milo Papianus was a Roman political agitator, the son of Gaius Papius Celsus, but adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus...
, backed by his supporters. The rostra became a fortress and was more than once used to throw deadly missiles upon the opposing side. On January 2, 52 BC, Clodius died at the hands of the opponents mob near Bovillae, setting off a riot as the Clodius faction carried the body to the comitium and cremated it on a funeral pyre improvised with the senatorial seating from the Curia Hostilia. The fire consumed the curia, destroying it as well as damaging the Basilica Porcia. Faustus Sulla, son of the dictator Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , known commonly as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice, as well as that of dictator...
was commissioned by the senate to rebuild the curia. It lasted for only seven years until Julius Caesar began his changes.
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was born into the aristocratic patrician family of the Julii on July 12 or 13 around the year 100 BC. The month of July being named after the dictator was previously known as QuintilisQuintilis
In the 10-month calendar of ancient Rome, Quintilis follows Junius and precedes Sextilis . Quintilis is Latin for "fifth", that is, it was the fifth month in the earliest calendar attributed to Romulus, which began with the month of Martius...
. The family was not wealthy or influential at the time of his birth. His father only reached the position of praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
. Caesar's rise to power as a military general along with his successful campaigns led to sharing of power within the Republic known as the First Triumvirate
First Triumvirate
The First Triumvirate was the political alliance of Gaius Julius Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Unlike the Second Triumvirate, the First Triumvirate had no official status whatsoever; its overwhelming power in the Roman Republic was strictly unofficial influence, and...
. The shared power did not last and Caesar took measures to insure his placement as dictator for life. He began many building projects to emulate prior dictators such as Sulla and Marius who had initiated changes within the comitium. One of Caesar's plans was to remove or replace the Rostra Vetera, level the comitium and dismantle the curia and realign it with the new rostra.
An episode that may have contributed to the Liberatores conspiracy against Caesar was on the occasion of the festival of the Lycea, or Lupercalia
Lupercalia
Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility...
. Mark Antony, as one of the participants, approached Caesar while he sat in the comitium on the rostra. Antony ceremoniously attempted to place a laurel wreath on Caesar's head. Caesar theatrically refused, and received applause from the people. This was done several times until the wreath was finally placed upon the head of a statue of Caesar which was then immediately torn down by the tribunes of the people who were later removed from their office.
Cicero and Mark Antony
The rostra was held as the highest possible honor to sit upon or to speak from. Cicero remarks on this in reflection of the honor being bestowed upon him in his first contional speech during a debate as praetorPraetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...
. It was the first time Cicero spoke from the rostra. The Philippic
Philippic
A philippic is a fiery, damning speech, or tirade, delivered to condemn a particular political actor. The term originates with Demosthenes, who delivered several attacks on Philip II of Macedon in the 4th century BC....
s became one the most popular writings of the orator. The works marked a return to active politics in 43 BC after a long retirement. In them, he attacked Mark Antony as the greatest threat to republican government after Caesar's death. He wrote of the libertas or freedoms that the citizens of Rome had forfeited under Julius Caesar and violently denounced Mark Antony. He made at least one of these epic speeches from the rostra.
When the conspirators had all been defeated, Augustus had tried but failed to keep Cicero's name off the death list. Eventually Antony wins and has the orator's head and hands displayed on the rostra.
Structures within the comitium
The comitium was open towards the forum. At its boundary where the monuments and statues recording political events and famous Romans. After the fall of the Republic these memorials were destroyed or moved to the Forum RomanumRoman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
where the emperors began to construct ever larger monuments to themselves.
Statues and other monuments
The space was filled with art and monuments of various historic legends, battles and figures. A statue of Attus NaviusAttus Navius
In the legendary history of ancient Rome, Attus Navius was a famous augur during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus.When the latter desired to increase the number of the equestrian centuries, and to name them in his own honour, Navius opposed him, declaring that it must not be done unless the omens...
and a fig tree associated with the auger stood on the left of the curia steps.
There were four sacred fig trees in the city, three of which were within the forum area. A tree planted near the Temple of Saturn
Temple of Saturn
The Temple of Saturn is a monument to the agricultural deity. The Temple of Saturn stands at the foot of the Capitoline Hill in the western end of the Forum Romanum in Rome, Italy.-Archaeology:...
was removed when its root system began undermining a valued statue. In the medio foro a fig tree stood aside an olive tree and a grape vine. Verrius Flaccus, Pliny and Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
state that a third tree stood in the comitium near the statue of the auger Attus Navia who, legend says, split a wet stone with a razor in the comitium and transferred the Ficus ruminalis or its sacred importance from the banks of the to the assembly area. Scholars still refer to the ficus navia as the ficus ruminalis while excepting the difference.
Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
reports that a statue to Publius Horatius Cocles was erected in the comitium.
The column of Maenian, an honorary column, was also located very close to these monuments. The area is where the dictator Cornelius held his tribunals. A tribunal is depicted on the Anaglypha Traiani (two marble fence panels now displayed in the Curia Julia) along with the ficus navia and statue to the far right on one panel.
Graecostasis
There existed another grandstand within the comitium beside the Rostra. Its exact use is debated; however, it is likely that it was used for visiting ambassadors who were forbidden from entering the curia. The graecostasisGraecostasis
The Graecostasis was a platform in the Comitium near the Roman forum, located to the west of the Rostra. The name refers to the Greek ambassadors for whom the platform was originally built after the Roman Republic conquered Greece...
was located on the west side of the comitium - it may well be placed so those in attendance in the stands could listen to the speakers on the Rostra as well as still face the curia.
Column Maenia
Beside the rostra and the Graecostasis was the Columna Maenia. In 338 BC, Consul Gaius MaeniusGaius Maenius
Gaius Maenius was a Roman statesman and general.When consul in 338 BC, Gaius Maenius completed the subjugation of Latium, which with Campania had revolted against Rome. He was honored by a triumph, and an extremely phallic column was erected to him in the Forum...
erected a column that some historians believe to be from the atrium of his home which was sold to Cato
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...
and Flaccus
Flaccus
Flaccus was a cognomen of the ancient Roman plebeian family Fulvius, considered one of the most illustrious gentes of the city. Cicero and Pliny the Elder state that the family was originally from Tusculum, and that members still lived there in the 1st century.As usual for cognomina, "Flaccus" was...
as mentioned in Ps.-Asc. Caec. 50. Pliny
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
states that the accensus consulum announced the supremam horam, the time when the sun had moved downward from the Columna Maenia to the Carcer. This was done from the same location as the call for midday, the Curia. The column was south of the place of observation or on a line which passed from the Rostra and Graecostasis.
Tabula valeria
The Tabula valeria was one of the first public works of its kind in the City. In 263 BC, consul Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus MessallaManius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla
Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla was Roman consul in 263 BC. He was the son of the distinguished Roman tribune Marcus Valerius Corvus. In 263BC, with his colleague Manius Otacilius Crassus, he gained a brilliant victory over the Carthaginians and Syracusans: more than sixty of the...
placed a painting of his victory over Heiro and the Carthaginians in Sicily, on the side of the ancient curia. Samuel Ball Platner states in his book, The topography and monuments of ancient Rome (1911):
Rostra vetera
The comitium changed after the time of Caesar. The original spot of many of the monuments and statues was altered drastically. One of the biggest changes was to the Rostra Vetera. This structure changed considerably even before 44 BC. It began as two simple monuments, an altar and shrine. It became even more sacred when miraculous events occurred. Milk and blood rained down from the heavens.Empire
The comitium was reduced in size twice in consecutive order by Cornelius Sulla and again by Julius CaesarJulius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
. The focus shifted to the forum where Caesar and Augustus had moved many of the monuments of the comitium. The equestrian statue of Pompey, was displayed on the new rostra moved by Caesar in 44 BC. Structures were dismantled or relocated and the smaller area was simply built over with the Arch of Septimius Severus
Arch of Septimius Severus
The white marble Arch of Septimius Severus at the northwest end of the Roman Forum is a triumphal arch dedicated in AD 203 to commemorate the Parthian victories of Emperor Septimius Severus and his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, in the two campaigns against the Parthians of 194/195 and...
and a roadway. The comitium space faded from importance to such a point, that the single most important monument, the vulcanal, slowly faded from memory. As ground levels rose from sedimentary deposits due to flooding, the Lapis Niger, where the king handed over power to the senate, was lost for 2000 years.
Archaeology
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard
Friedrich Wilhelm Eduard Gerhard was a German archaeologist. He was co-founder and secretary of the first international archaeological society.-Biography:Gerhard was born at Posen, and was educated at Breslau and Berlin...
. Starting with museums rather than excavation, archaeological work began by studying and cataloguing existing collections as background knowledge for the philological study of antiquity.
A number of German archaeologists joined Gerhard to map out the city of Rome, the forum and the comitium being of great importance as the topographical center. He was joined by Chevalier Bunsen, Earnst Platner, Wilhelm Röstell, B. G. Niebuhr and Friedrich Hoffmann
Friedrich Hoffmann
Friedrich Hoffmann was a German physician and chemist.-Life and career:His family had been connected with medicine for 200 years before him. Born in Halle , he attended the local gymnasium where he acquired that taste for and skill in mathematics to which he attributed much of his after success...
in beginning the book Beschreibung der Stadt Rom in 1817 which was published in 1832. The theories presented did not have full support from their peers. In his book, A dictionary of Greek and Roman geography published in 1854, Sir William Smith remarked:
No major excavation of the site was undertaken until the turn of the century. Previous digs had only uncovered as far back as the late empire. Such was the case in 1870 when later pavements or structures were located and digging was stopped by request for viewing and study and never resumed. In 1898, a committee was established to examine and study the earlier architectural fragments to establish an order for restoration of ancient buildings. It was discovered quickly that new and more detailed excavations would be required. Also in 1898, G. Boni
Giacomo Boni (archaeologist)
Giacomo Boni was an Italian archaeologist specializing in Roman architecture.Born in Venice, Boni studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in his native city and later dedicated himself to extensive and important excavations in the Forum Romanum in Rome...
requested tramway in front of the church of Sant'Adriano al Foro
Sant'Adriano al Foro
Sant'Adriano al Foro was a church formerly in the Curia Julia in the Forum Romanum. It was built by Pope Honorius I in 630. Its name refers to the martyr Adrian of Nicomedia. Its structure was modified multiple times before it was demolished in the 1930s to recover the ancient structure of the...
be removed. His request was met in October and substantial new funds were made available an extended excavation. In December 1898, excavations began. Between 1899 and 1903 he and his collaborators discovered the Lapis Niger
Lapis Niger
The Lapis Niger is an ancient shrine in the Roman Forum. Together with the associated Vulcanal it constitutes the only surviving remnants of the old Comitium, an early assembly area that preceded the Forum and is thought to derive from an archaic cult site of the 7th or 8th century BC.The black...
(the "Black Rock") as well as other artifacts while excavating the comitium. During the medieval period the comitium space had been turned into a Christian cemetery and part of the curia made into a catacomb. Consequently, over 400 bodies were unearthed and moved during excavations.
In the American Journal of Archaeology
American Journal of Archaeology
The American Journal of Archaeology , the peer-reviewed journal of the Archaeological Institute of America, has been published since 1897...
, second series, volume 4 1900, a letter from Samuel Ball Platner
Samuel Ball Platner
Samuel Ball Platner was an American classicist and archaeologist.Platner was born at Unionville, Connecticut, and educated at Yale College...
was published dated July 1, 1899. In the letter he stated:
Other sites
In 1953 an American excavation at the Roman Latin colonyColonia (Roman)
A Roman colonia was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of Roman city.-History:...
of Cosa
Cosa
Cosa was a Latin colonia founded under Roman influence in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, perhaps on land confiscated from the Etruscans...
in modern Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
identified the remains of the city's comitium and found rounded amphitheatre steps directly in front of the local senate house. The discovery prompted further excavations in Rome at the site of the comitium space in 1957. Cosa is located 138 kilometres (85.7 mi) northwest of Rome along the coast of Italy. It was established in 237 BC as a military outpost to control territory of the recently conquered Etruscans. The city's port and town features were laid out in the third century BC using regular town plans with intersecting streets at right angles and forum and cult center on the arx.
The site today
Today the site is a major tourist attraction and draws people from all over the world to the city. The current state of the comitium is viewed by many as simply the north west corner of the Forum Romanum. However, the site has been excavated back down to the last stage before being lost to sediment build up from years of flooding and subsequent repaving. The current site seen today is from the last stage of the comitium space. A circular fountain placed in front of the Curia Julia is from the later Imperial age and is several feet above the original level of the curia.Other authors referenced
These books are out of print and have no ISBN number. Their age means some information in the books or journals may have changed or newer theories advanced since the original publication. They are used in this article where information is either the earliest, the original, or the very first works printed on the subject, or where information is still pertinent today.----