Curia of Pompey

A 3D reconstruction of the Curia of Pompey
Curia of Pompey Shown within Rome
Location	Regio IXCircus Flaminius
Coordinates	41°53′42″N12°28′26″E / 41.895°N 12.474°E /41.895; 12.474
Type	Exedra
History
Builder	Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
Founded	62 BC

TheCuria of Pompey was one of several named meeting halls fromRepublican Rome of historic significance.^[1] Acuria was a designated structure for meetings of the senate.^[2] The Curia of Pompey was located at the entrance to theTheater of Pompey.

The Curia was attached to the porticus directly behind the theatre section and was a Romanexedra, with a curved back wall and several levels of seating.^[3] It was where the Senate met on theIdes of March in 44 BC and where the dictatorJulius Caesar wasassassinated. After Caesar's death, his heirAugustus removed the large statue of Pompey and had the hall walled up. Eventually it was converted into alatrine.

In 55 BC,Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) dedicated the opening of the largest theater in the ancient world before its full completion. Built from the profits of his war campaigns, the structure was a political statement meant to raise the status of the Roman general and consul, as well as to memorialize his achievements throughout his career.

The full structure consisted of a large theater section, incorporating a temple, apulpitum orstage,scaenae frons andcavea (seating) at one end, a large quadriporticus that surrounded an extensive garden and housed Pompey's collection of art and literature, and the curia itself at the opposite end from the theater. While the theater complex overall would stand for centuries, the curia itself would last for only about a decade. In 44 BC, eleven years after the structure opened,Julius Caesar was assassinated in it. During Augustus' rule he had the statue of Pompey in it removed – moving it to another place in Pompey's theatre complex – and later had thecuria walled up.^[4] It was some time later converted into a latrine, according toCassius Dio, and may be archaeologically visible as a large set oftufa blocks in the modernArea Sacra di Largo Argentina.^[5]

The structure is located in an area now calledLargo di Torre Argentina. The site was excavated by order of the dictatorBenito Mussolini in the 1930s.^{[6][failed verification]} For the most part, only the foundations of the original structure have been excavated^[7] and a modern roadway and rail system are now raised above the remains of the curia. As of 2023, the site has been opened for tourists to access via constructed walkways. Visitors can now walk around the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated, as opposed to viewing it from the street above.^[8]

• Ancient Roman theatres in Rome
• Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC
• Assassination of Julius Caesar
• Pompey
• Rome R. VI Parione
• Roman Senate
• Assassination sites

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