DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0177
COMITIUM
135
conjecturally fixed as early as 1870 (Jord. i. 2. 318, n. 3), but certainty was
only reached when the Curia Iulia (q.v.) was correctly identified. For
comitium and curia were connected through all time (Liv. xlv. 24. 12 :
comitium vestibulum curiae).
The comitium was the political centre of ancient Rome until the
second century b.c. Macrob. (Sat. iii. 16. 15) refers to the administration
of justice as still going on there in 161 b.c., though the tribes usually voted
in the forum. In 145 b.c. the tribune C. Licinius Crassus was the first,
we are told, to lead the legislative assembly of the people from the
comitium to the forum (Cic. Lael. 25, 96 ; Varro, RR i. 2. 9 ; cf. Plaut.
Cure. 400 if.), and Plutarch must be wrong in attributing the step to
Gaius Gracchus (5).
The republican comitium was a templum or inaugurated plot of ground
(Cic. Rep. ii. 11 : fecit et-saepsit ... comitium et curiam) orientated
according to the cardinal points of the compass. In the centre of the
north side was the curia ; on the west were the career and the basilica
Porcia ; on the south were the rostra and the Graecostasis ; while the
Senaculum (q.v.) was further off.
For the various archaic monuments which stood in the comitium, see
Ficus Navia, Puteal in Comitio, Statua Atti Navi, Statua Hermo-
dori, Statua Horath Cochlitis.
Until recent excavations, the comitium was buried to a depth of over
30 feet ; but it has now been completely cleared from the front of the
curia Iulia, except on the north-west. The twenty-seven different strata
recognised by Boni in his stratigraphic explorations may be reduced to
fourteen main divisions, which represent five successive elevations
(Van Deman in JRS 1922, 6-11, whose account is here followed).
The whole question is closely connected with the problems concerning
the Rostra Vetera (q.v.). It seems that the latter changed its orienta-
tion more than once, but whether we should suppose that the comitium
and the curia did the same is doubtful, though one would naturally suppose
a certain amount of symmetry.
The five successive elevations are as follows :
(1) At about 10.40 to 10.60 metres above sea-level, traces were found
of a layer of beaten earth not unlike a primitive pavement ; and a little
above this a compact stratum of a large number of broken roof tiles of
an early type was brought to light at the same time. They are clearly
the debris of some building or buildings close at hand destroyed by fire,
and belonging to the level below them. They cannot, it is held, be
earlier than the 6th century b.c., and it may be the fire that followed
the Gallic invasion of 390 b.c. that is in question.
(2) At 10.85 to 10.90 above sea-level, i.e. at the same level as the
cappellaccio pavements of the forum, a hard stratum of tufa and earth
beaten together was found. It was about 8 cm. thick, and was either
the bed of a pavement or the pavement itself ; for from it a low flight
135
conjecturally fixed as early as 1870 (Jord. i. 2. 318, n. 3), but certainty was
only reached when the Curia Iulia (q.v.) was correctly identified. For
comitium and curia were connected through all time (Liv. xlv. 24. 12 :
comitium vestibulum curiae).
The comitium was the political centre of ancient Rome until the
second century b.c. Macrob. (Sat. iii. 16. 15) refers to the administration
of justice as still going on there in 161 b.c., though the tribes usually voted
in the forum. In 145 b.c. the tribune C. Licinius Crassus was the first,
we are told, to lead the legislative assembly of the people from the
comitium to the forum (Cic. Lael. 25, 96 ; Varro, RR i. 2. 9 ; cf. Plaut.
Cure. 400 if.), and Plutarch must be wrong in attributing the step to
Gaius Gracchus (5).
The republican comitium was a templum or inaugurated plot of ground
(Cic. Rep. ii. 11 : fecit et-saepsit ... comitium et curiam) orientated
according to the cardinal points of the compass. In the centre of the
north side was the curia ; on the west were the career and the basilica
Porcia ; on the south were the rostra and the Graecostasis ; while the
Senaculum (q.v.) was further off.
For the various archaic monuments which stood in the comitium, see
Ficus Navia, Puteal in Comitio, Statua Atti Navi, Statua Hermo-
dori, Statua Horath Cochlitis.
Until recent excavations, the comitium was buried to a depth of over
30 feet ; but it has now been completely cleared from the front of the
curia Iulia, except on the north-west. The twenty-seven different strata
recognised by Boni in his stratigraphic explorations may be reduced to
fourteen main divisions, which represent five successive elevations
(Van Deman in JRS 1922, 6-11, whose account is here followed).
The whole question is closely connected with the problems concerning
the Rostra Vetera (q.v.). It seems that the latter changed its orienta-
tion more than once, but whether we should suppose that the comitium
and the curia did the same is doubtful, though one would naturally suppose
a certain amount of symmetry.
The five successive elevations are as follows :
(1) At about 10.40 to 10.60 metres above sea-level, traces were found
of a layer of beaten earth not unlike a primitive pavement ; and a little
above this a compact stratum of a large number of broken roof tiles of
an early type was brought to light at the same time. They are clearly
the debris of some building or buildings close at hand destroyed by fire,
and belonging to the level below them. They cannot, it is held, be
earlier than the 6th century b.c., and it may be the fire that followed
the Gallic invasion of 390 b.c. that is in question.
(2) At 10.85 to 10.90 above sea-level, i.e. at the same level as the
cappellaccio pavements of the forum, a hard stratum of tufa and earth
beaten together was found. It was about 8 cm. thick, and was either
the bed of a pavement or the pavement itself ; for from it a low flight