The site of the Curia

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Ave Amici
I am really curious about one thing. I am assuming that the site of the present Curia in Rome is the same one in which Gaius Caesar was assassinated - unless there was a relocation in later years. Its really odd that the place hasn't become a pilgrimage site of sorts, considering how well known Caesar is. I was in Rome in 1980 and I don't remember anyone even mentioning it. It was the Forum Romanum and the Colisseum that were constantly harped on. I remember long ago seeing some pictures in another website of the alleged site of the murder. If someone could post a few pictures I would be happy.
Regards, Imad

[Jona Lendering]

I am assuming that the site of the present Curia in Rome is the same one in which Gaius Caesar was assassinated

He was assassinated in the Curia Pompeia = Area Sacra di Largo Argentina.

Its really odd that the place hasn't become a pilgrimage site of sorts, considering how well known Caesar is.

People lay down flowers on the place where his dead body was exposed and Marc Antony delivered his speech, sort of in the basement of the Temple of Caesar. Considering Caesar's genocide in Belgica, I think the wisdom of this practice can be doubted.

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Thanks Jona. Another question - is Pompey's statue, or what remains of it, still at the Curia Pompeia? IIRC Caesar died at the foot of that statue.

[Jona Lendering]

No. The second color photo shows what it looks like. What you see is the rooms behind the place where the senators met; the heavy wall to the right is the rear wall of the Curia. The tribunal on which the statue stood, is even more to the right, off the photo, below the street. The remainder of the room is hidden under the street and the Teatro Argentina.

The first, aerial photo is more or less what used to be the Curia Pompeia, and as you can see, only a very small part is in the archaeological zone. The building to the left, top, is the Teatro Argentina. (In case you're interested, Gore Vidal used to live in the house with the court, left, bottom.) For your orientation: here is the Google Earth photo of the entire archaeological zone.

There is a statue of Pompey in the Palazzo Spada (Italian State Council) that is said to be the statue of Pompey, but that is in fact a statue of Domitian with a new head. It's this small black and white photo; can't find anything better.

[Theodosius the Great]

A bit OT but...

did you know that the main door to the Basilica of St. John Lateran is the original bronze door for the senate house commissioned by Caesar himself in 44 b.C. ?



~Theo

[Epictetus]

That's impressive. I didn't realise that those were the same doors. I figured that they had been melted down at some point.

There are some pictures of the flowers on this site.

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

No. The second color photo shows what it looks like. What you see is the rooms behind the place where the senators met; the heavy wall to the right is the rear wall of the Curia. The tribunal on which the statue stood, is even more to the right, off the photo, below the street. The remainder of the room is hidden under the street and the Teatro Argentina.

The first, aerial photo is more or less what used to be the Curia Pompeia, and as you can see, only a very small part is in the archaeological zone. The building to the left, top, is the Teatro Argentina. (In case you're interested, Gore Vidal used to live in the house with the court, left, bottom.) For your orientation: here is the Google Earth photo of the entire archaeological zone.

There is a statue of Pompey in the Palazzo Spada (Italian State Council) that is said to be the statue of Pompey, but that is in fact a statue of Domitian with a new head. It's this small black and white photo; can't find anything better.

Sorry Jona, I must be missing something. I don't see any colour photographs.

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Oops. Sorry, ignore the previous post. The pictures just took a long time to download. Thanks.

[john m roberts]

Caesar wasn't assassinated in the Curia Hostilia just off the Forum Romanum. It had been burned in the rioting following the funeral of Clodius and had not yet been restored. On the Ides of March, 44 BC the Senate was to meet in the Theater of Pompey (which was why Pompey's statue was conveniently the site of the killing). The Theater of Pompey was on the Campus Martius, outside the city proper. Caesar's funeral and cremation took place in the Forum, and that's where people lay flowers. An altar to the Divus Julius was erected on the site of the pyre.

[Jona Lendering]

Caesar's funeral and cremation took place in the Forum, and that's where people lay flowers. An altar to the Divus Julius was erected on the site of the pyre.

No, not the site of the pyre, I think. Suetonius, Caesar, 84:

"When the funeral was announced, a pyre was erected in the Campus Martius ... and on a speaker's platform a gilded shrine was placed, made after the model of the temple of Venus Genetrix. ... Instead of a eulogy the consul Antonius ... added a very few words of his own. The bier on the platform was carried down into the Forum by magistrates and ex-magistrates; and while some were urging that it be burned in the temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, and others in the Hall of Pompey, on a sudden two young men ... set fire to it with blazing torches."

The omphalos-shaped monument that is now covered with flowers is probably the place where the bier was first placed, on the speaker's platform. It was conveniently outside Caesar's house, the Regia (he was pontifex maximus). When the Temple of Caesar was made, it had a speaker's platform too (rostra). From this place, the bier was brought to the Forum Romanum, and it was set afire somewhere near the present Arch of Severus, where a choice had to be made about going up to the Capitol or around the hill to the Curia Pompeia.