DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44944#0186
144
CURIA IULIA
Augustus set up in it a statue of Victory (Dio li. 22 ; v. Victoria, ara)
and built an annex called the Chalcidicum (q.v.). The Secretarium
Senatus, another annex of the senate house, probably also formed part
of the structure of Augustus, though we have no direct evidence of its
existence before the time of Diocletian.
The curia Iulia, like the older curia, was built in comitio (Plin. NH
xxxv. 27, 131) ; in fact several senatus consulta which have come down
to us in their Greek form state that they were voted A κομετ/ω ; one
under Hadrian, however, is more explicit (in comitio in curia, EE ii.
273, 282).
The curia as restored by Augustus is believed by Hiilsen (Neueste
Ausgr. 12, fig. 7*), who had previously (HC 51) connected them
with the basilica Iulia, to be represented in coins of 29-27 b.c. (Cohen,
Aug. 122 ; BM. Rep. ii. 16. 4358, 4359=Aug. 631, 632 ; cf. p. cxxiii,
n. 4, where it is referred to the temple of Julius ; while Richmond (JRS
1914, 218) wrongly refers it to a little shrine just outside the Atrium
of Augustus on the Palatine). The statue of Victory standing on a globe
which came from Tarentum is shown in the apex of the pediment, and is
represented on other coins of the same date (BM Aug. 622-3 1 Cohen,
Aug. 113 ; BM. Rep. ii. 14, 15. 4356-7, where it is wrongly stated to have
been placed in the basilica Iulia).
Domitian restored the curia in 94 a.d. (Hieron. 161 x), and it was no
doubt he who took the opportunity of dedicating the Chalcidicum to his
patron goddess Minerva, whence it acquired the name of Atrium Minervae
(Notit. Reg. VIII). This curia is represented in the famous Anaglypha
Traiani (see Rostra). It is perhaps also represented in one of the reliefs
of the arch of Benevento (Mitt. 1892, 257 ; SScR 194). The curia was
burnt down in the fire of Carinus, and rebuilt by Diocletian (Chron. 148),
and the existing building dates from his time.
We learn from sixteenth century drawings (Lanciani, Mem. L. 3. xi.
5-21 ; Mitt. 1895, 47-52) that it formed part of a group with the Atrium
Minervae and the Secretarium Senatus.
The curia proper is a hall 25.20 metres by 17.61 metres, of brick-faced
concrete, with a huge buttress at each angle ; the lower part of the front
wall was decorated with slabs of marble, while the upper part (like the
exterior of the thermae of Caracalla and Diocletian) was covered with
stucco in imitation of white marble blocks with heavily draughted joints.
The travertine consoles and the brick cornice which they support (which
are continued round the triangular pediment) were also coated with
stucco. A flight of steps led up to the entrance door, to which belonged
an epistyle bearing the inscription: [ijmperantfe . . . | [njeratius in ... |
[cjuriam senfatus] . . . The second line no doubt contained the name
of an unknown praefectus urbi (fifth century). When the building became
1 Ed. Schoene ; so also Tiro, Epit. Chron. in Chron. Min. i. 417 ; according to Fothering-
ham (p. 273) the date would be 89-90.
CURIA IULIA
Augustus set up in it a statue of Victory (Dio li. 22 ; v. Victoria, ara)
and built an annex called the Chalcidicum (q.v.). The Secretarium
Senatus, another annex of the senate house, probably also formed part
of the structure of Augustus, though we have no direct evidence of its
existence before the time of Diocletian.
The curia Iulia, like the older curia, was built in comitio (Plin. NH
xxxv. 27, 131) ; in fact several senatus consulta which have come down
to us in their Greek form state that they were voted A κομετ/ω ; one
under Hadrian, however, is more explicit (in comitio in curia, EE ii.
273, 282).
The curia as restored by Augustus is believed by Hiilsen (Neueste
Ausgr. 12, fig. 7*), who had previously (HC 51) connected them
with the basilica Iulia, to be represented in coins of 29-27 b.c. (Cohen,
Aug. 122 ; BM. Rep. ii. 16. 4358, 4359=Aug. 631, 632 ; cf. p. cxxiii,
n. 4, where it is referred to the temple of Julius ; while Richmond (JRS
1914, 218) wrongly refers it to a little shrine just outside the Atrium
of Augustus on the Palatine). The statue of Victory standing on a globe
which came from Tarentum is shown in the apex of the pediment, and is
represented on other coins of the same date (BM Aug. 622-3 1 Cohen,
Aug. 113 ; BM. Rep. ii. 14, 15. 4356-7, where it is wrongly stated to have
been placed in the basilica Iulia).
Domitian restored the curia in 94 a.d. (Hieron. 161 x), and it was no
doubt he who took the opportunity of dedicating the Chalcidicum to his
patron goddess Minerva, whence it acquired the name of Atrium Minervae
(Notit. Reg. VIII). This curia is represented in the famous Anaglypha
Traiani (see Rostra). It is perhaps also represented in one of the reliefs
of the arch of Benevento (Mitt. 1892, 257 ; SScR 194). The curia was
burnt down in the fire of Carinus, and rebuilt by Diocletian (Chron. 148),
and the existing building dates from his time.
We learn from sixteenth century drawings (Lanciani, Mem. L. 3. xi.
5-21 ; Mitt. 1895, 47-52) that it formed part of a group with the Atrium
Minervae and the Secretarium Senatus.
The curia proper is a hall 25.20 metres by 17.61 metres, of brick-faced
concrete, with a huge buttress at each angle ; the lower part of the front
wall was decorated with slabs of marble, while the upper part (like the
exterior of the thermae of Caracalla and Diocletian) was covered with
stucco in imitation of white marble blocks with heavily draughted joints.
The travertine consoles and the brick cornice which they support (which
are continued round the triangular pediment) were also coated with
stucco. A flight of steps led up to the entrance door, to which belonged
an epistyle bearing the inscription: [ijmperantfe . . . | [njeratius in ... |
[cjuriam senfatus] . . . The second line no doubt contained the name
of an unknown praefectus urbi (fifth century). When the building became
1 Ed. Schoene ; so also Tiro, Epit. Chron. in Chron. Min. i. 417 ; according to Fothering-
ham (p. 273) the date would be 89-90.