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The Curia was the meeting place of the Senate.
The ancient building, dating from the late empire, still stands. It had been converted into a church but has been restored. During the restoration the ancient marble floor and raised steps for the senators was discovered under the floor of the church.
The meeting hall was the building on the right. There were three raised marble tiers upon which the senators sat in portable folding chairs. The other buildins on the left were senate offices and other meeting rooms. The entrance is at the bottom in this illustration. Opposite the entrace, against the back wall, was an altar.
Not all of the complex can be seen today. The modern ground level is more than a storey higher than the ancient level and the ruins of the buildings on the left are under a modern church and road. The illustration below shows the portion that can be seen today and the line of the modern embankment.
The red lines indicate the location of the present day embankment (the central line) and the church that lies above the ruins of part of the Curia complex (red lines to the left).
The Roman Senate numbered 300 for most of the Republic. Sulla, in the last decades of the Republic, raised the number to 600, it was briefly increased to 900 by Julius Caesar but quickly returned to 600 and stayed at that number for most of the Empire.
The size of Roman buildings is deceptive and difficult to judge. When one looks at the Curia it does not appear large enough to seat 600 people.
This illustration shows senators seated in the Curia to demonstrate the space
needed for the assembly. The illustration below shows a close-up view of the area in the circle.
The senators are shown in a seated position, nearly shoulder to shoulder, two
rows on the floor and two on each of the three raised tiers.
In this view there are 8 rows of 10 senators each.
This illustration shows the main seating area of the Curia to illustrate the space required to seat the 600 senators. The green boxes outline rows of 10 senators. There could have been 8 rows of senators on each side of the aisle and as many as 40 in each row. This would be 640. The arrangement pictured places the figures in extremely close proximity to each other. In actuality, there would seldom have been all 600 senators assembled at once. A reference to the drawings of the entire Curia will also show that there was slightly more seating room than is shown in the illustration on the left. These adjustments would allow the senators actually attending the meeting ample room.
The Senate also used other temples for its meetings from time to time. For some periods there was no Curia due to fires that burned it down. Two of the temples used for Senate meetings were the Temple of Concord, near the Curia, and the Temple of Castor and Pollux.
To see how the senators would fit into these sites the senators will be reprented
by a box standing for 50. The illustration on the right shows the 50 senators and the box that represents
them.
The existing ruins of the temples of Concord and Castor and Pollux date from the late empire when there were 600 senators. No plans for earlier versions of these temples are available. Assuming that these two temples were always about the size of the latest versions, how could the senate have used them for meetings? They seem to small.
The illustration above shows the boxes representing 50 senators each and how they fit into the space of the two temples. It would take 12 boxes to equal 600 senators. One could fit about 13.3 boxes into the Temple of Castor and Pollux (3.5 wide by 3.8 deep). This would pack the senators shoulder to shoulder, standing room only. The Temple of Concord is roomier and could easily hold the required 12 rectangles; it could, in fact, hold about 19.5, representing over 900 individuals.
Therefore, it would have been possible for all 600 senators to crowd into either temple; however it is unlikely that such a large group ever convened at those sites. Allowing for absences, 300 to 400 senators could easily have gathered in either temple. During the Republic, the 300 senators would have found the accomodations spacious..
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