A
curia in early
RomanAncient 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....
times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a
metonymyMetonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept...
it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs. Etymologically it is derived from the
Old LatinOld Latin refers to the Latin language in the period before the age of Classical Latin; that is, all Latin before 75 BC...
term "co-viria," literally an "association of men." This archaic pronunciation - note that current scholarship believes that in
Classical LatinClassical Latin in simplest terms is the socio-linguistic register of the Latin language regarded by the enfranchised and empowered populations of the late Roman republic and the Roman empire as good Latin. Most writers during this time made use of it...
"v" is always pronounced as "w" - eventually evolved into the more recognizable word.
Roman Republic
In the
Roman RepublicThe 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...
, there were three types of divisions into which the people were organized: the
curiae, which were based on clans or
gentesIn ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...
; the
centuriae, which were military; and
tribus, local "tribes" that were voting blocs. The
curiae are thought to have been created by dividing the original three tribes into ten divisions. Each
curia was then further divided into ten
decuriae. Each
curia was led by a
curio, over whom presided the
curio maximusThe curio maximus was an obscure priesthood in ancient Rome that had oversight of the curiae, groups of citizens loosely affiliated within what was originally a tribe. Each curia was led by a curio, who was admitted only after the age of 50 and held his office for life...
.
The curia
per antonomasia was the Curia Hostilia in
RomeRome 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...
, which was the building where the
SenateThe 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...
usually met. The Senate, initially just a meeting of the city
eldersOld age consists of ages nearing or surpassing the average life span of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle...
from all tribes (its name comes from "senex", which means "old man"), saw its powers grow together with the conquest that brought a town of humble origins to rule a large
RepublicThe 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...
(and then decrease steadily with the advent of the
EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
).
During their expansion, the Romans exported the model to every city that gained the status of
MunicipiumMunicipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
, so that it had its own Senate and its own officials charged with local administration (although they weren't usually elected but nominated by the central
governmentGovernment refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
; the only place where officials were actually elected by the people was Rome itself, and by Imperial times even those elections, although kept for the sake of tradition, no longer had significance). Senators themselves were not elected since the early Republic, having been transformed into a hereditary nobility.
Roman Empire
By the Imperial period, a curia was any building where local government held office, i.e. judicial proceedings, government meetings, bureaucracy, etc., and shortly afterwards the term started to refer also to the people making up the local administration (see
curialesIn Ancient Rome, the curiales were initially the leading members of a gentes of the city of Rome. Their roles were both civil and sacred...
).
The Curia situated in the
Roman ForumThe 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...
functioned as a senate house for meetings and discussions over the Roman Empire to be held. It was to the north of the Forum, and was particularly used to conduct the affairs of the Roman state, more effectively, although not exclusively, during the republican period. It is one of the few buildings in the Roman Forum that is still standing, making it easy to imagine its original state.
During the late Roman Empire, the government assumed a dual character, secular and religious. The fall of the Western Roman Empire ended the secular curia in the West, but not the religious one, which has continued to the present day.
Roman Catholic Church
After the end of the Roman Empire, the term
Curia was used to designate the administrative apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, and more specifically, the Vatican.
Modern usage
The term curia may refer to separate electoral colleges in a system of
reserved political positionsSeveral politico-constitutional arrangements use reserved political positions, especially when endeavoring to ensure the rights of minorities or preserving a political balance of power...
(reserved seats), e.g. during the British mandate of Palestine at the third election (1931) of the Asefat HaNivharim there were three curiae, for the
Ashkenazi JewsAshkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
, the
Sephardi JewsSephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
and for the Yemeni Jews.
See also
- Constitution of the Roman Republic
The Constitution of the Roman Republic was a set of guidelines and principles passed down mainly through precedent. The constitution was largely unwritten, uncodified, and constantly evolving...
- Curio maximus
The curio maximus was an obscure priesthood in ancient Rome that had oversight of the curiae, groups of citizens loosely affiliated within what was originally a tribe. Each curia was led by a curio, who was admitted only after the age of 50 and held his office for life...
- Lex curiata de imperio
In the constitution of ancient Rome, the lex curiata de imperio was the law confirming the rights of higher magistrates to hold power, or imperium...
- Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
- Curia Hostilia
- Curia Cornelia
The Curia Cornelia was a place where the Roman Senate assembled during ca. 80–50 BC. It was the largest of all the Curia built in Rome. Its construction took over a great deal of the traditional comitium space and brought the senate building into a commanding location within the Roman Forum as a...
- 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...