Comitium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Comitium |
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 The Imperial Comitium in front of the Curia Julia |
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| Location | Regione VIII Forum Romanum |
| Built in | 7-4th century BC |
| Built by/for | Unknown builder |
| Type of structure | Roman Architecture |
| Related articles | Structures-
Rostra, Curia Hostilia, Curia Julia, Lapis Niger |
  Comitium |
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The comitium was the nerve center of the Forum valley in ancient Rome. It had major religious and prophetic significance.[1] It was the location for all political and judicial activity of the early Roman Kingdom and Republic. The word itself means "place of assembly (com-eo).[2] It is the historic meeting place of the comitia curiata, the grown males of Rome who met as the earliest assembly of organised voting divisions of the republic.[3]
A comitium is the designated space in all Roman Cities for assembling elections, councils and tribunals. Like The Forum, where Temples, commerce, judicial, and city buildings were located, the Comtium was designed as the center for politics. Romans tended to organize their needs into specific locations within the city. As the city grew, more specialised forums began and expansions of the older forums was initiated. With the Comitium, however, due to the decline of control by the people into smaller and smaller groups of elite few, the comitiums in Rome did not expand. Instead the focus shifted to the forum where Caesar and Augustus had moved, not just the monuments of the comitium, but traditions held for over 500 years. Par excellence was no longer the comitium. It was reduced in size and importance. Reduced to such a point, that the single most important monument, too sacred to move, slowly faded in memory of its origins and eventually even its location. As ground levels rose from sedimentary deposits due to flooding, the Lapis Niger and vulcanal, where the king handed over power to the senate, was lost for 2000 years. The "Black Rock" and the Republic faded and the Roman Empire thrived.
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[edit] History
The Comitium's location makes it among the oldest areas of the city. Its beginnings are steeped in ancient pagan ritual and marked by altars and shrines. The earliest history of the comitium space is considered more legend than history. However, many facts have been extrapolated from the writings that have survived. There still appears to be much debate by scholars as to several monuments of the early Kingdom and Republic comitium.[4]
The location is one of just a few sites related to the founding of the city and attributed to Romulus in a number of ways.
It began as an open courtyard in front of a columned structure. The site was either consecrated as a templum or a templum was located within its grounds. The senate began simply as a council to the king, whose palace complex may have extended from the House of the Vestal Virgins on one end of the Forum Romanum to past what is now the Curia Julia. The Senate Council probably began meeting within an old temple that eventually became the Curia Hostilia. Early remains of the Vulcanal, a series of shrines in a single spot, may mark the location of the murder of Romulus. Orators would stand upon the altar of Vulcan, the Vulcanal, and address the crowd. When Rome became a republic, the original altar and shrine may have served as a podium for senators or political opponents. Next to this spot is where the Rostra has its early beginnings. It is believed that the tradition of speaking on an elevated platform to crowds of people for political purposes began on this spot, possibly as early as the first king of Rome. This spot became the Lapis Niger in later times, covering over what was left of the Vulcanal after a disaster of some form. A platform for the great speakers of the Republic has always existed within the comitium and it is believed that the Vulcanal and the Rostra may well have existed together at one point. The comitium was laid out before the time of the curia as a structure; however, it is at this location that the curia assembled even before a structure was built.
[edit] Sanctuary
Begun as an open square, eventually it was enclosed within fencing by Tullus Hostilius, who began the first organisation of the area. It was modeled after the ancient sanctuaries of the area such as the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, an elaborate temple and meeting complex. At one point the comitium had sunken rounded steps creating an amphitheater directly in front of the curia, that was added and then later buried or leveled, possibly creating the city's ban on theaters inside the protective walls. This could be from orators stirring up violent mobs during speeches at the Rostra.
At the edge of the Comitium was the Rostra Vetera, from which speeches were delivered. As the population grew and not all Romans could fit in the Comitium, speakers in the later Republic would turn their backs on the curia and crowds within the comitium and direct their speech from the Rostra to the crowd in the Forum.[5] Because of reconfigurations, little of the Comitium can be seen today.
Plutarch says in the life of Gaius Gracchus that up until the time of Gaius Gracchus, orators would face the Comitium while speaking. According to Plutarch, the senate was located in the direction of the Comitium (to the right of the orator) while the people where located in the opposite direction (to the left).
The comitium was reduced in size twice in consecutive order by Cornelius Sulla and again by Julius Caesar.[6]...
[edit] Lapis Niger and the Vulcanal
The Lapis Niger is within the comitium. Buried under slabs of black marble is the Vulcanal which may have originally served as an altar to Vulcan. Several items were unearthed under the marble pavement. The base of an honorary column, a stele with the earliest Latin inscription ever found referring to a "King", or "Rex" along with small votive statues and curses warning anyone who may disturb the site were excavated. It was likely destroyed in a fire or sacking of the city, and was buried along with the rest of the site to raise the level above the remains, common practice in ancient Rome. In this spot were the black marble slabs, which had a small retaining wall to keep people off.
[edit] Political assemblies
This area was sacred long before the Republic as a meeting place of the Roman people. Eventually a curia house was built and the Roman Republican Senate began governing. The first of the Republican Curia buildings was the Curia Hostilia which sat in this area aligned to the points of the compass. An official would walk out between the Rostra and the Lapis Niger at midday to mark the moment.
The terms Curia and Comitium are both related to people gathering together in a single location for a purpose.
[edit] Roman Senate
The Roman Senate was one of the longest lasting political institutions in Roman history. it was founded before the first king. It survived the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It began as little more than an council to the king. During the early republic, the senate still held little power, the executive magistrates did. By the middle republic, the senate was at the apex of its power. In late republic, reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus began to effect the power structure of Rome.
[edit] Curiate Assembly
The Comitia curiata (curiate assembly), the main assembly for the first two decades of the Roman Republic. During these this time, the Roman people were divided into thirty organized units called "Curia". The Curia were organized on the basis of the early Roman family. The thirty original Patrician (aristocratic) clans. The "Curia" assembled into the Curiate Assembly, for political need.
[edit] Century Assembly
The Century Assembly, the comitia centuriata or "Army Assembly" of the Roman Republic was the democratic assembly of the soldiers of Rome. Citizens, organized on the basis of Centuries for military purposes assembled as the Century Assembly for all legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes.
[edit] Tribal Assembly
The Tribal Assembly is the comitia tributa was the democratic assembly of citizens in the city of Rome. During Republic, citizens were organized on the basis of thirty-five Tribes inside the city walls. The Tribes gathered for legislative, electoral, and judicial purposes. Each Tribe received one vote. Once a majority of Tribes voted in the same way, the voting ended, and the matter was decided.
[edit] Rostra
From this area sprang an idea of which we still see today in pulpits. A raised platform for speakers with ascending and descending stairs on either side. The first structure to be called "Rostra" was on the south east section of the forecourt of the Curia Hostilia after ships breaks were attached to the support to a platform were Roman citizens spoke, either to the senste which the could face or the crowd in the forum. The original Rostra may well have been the Vulcanal which was buried under the Lapis Niger.
[edit] Graecostasis
There existed another grandstand within the comitium beside the Rostra. Its exact use is debated; however, it is likely that it was used for visiting ambassadors who were forbidden from entering the curia. Its placement on the west side of the comitium is also debated - however, it may well be placed so those in attendance in the stands could listen to the speakers on the Rostra as well as still face the curia.
[edit] References
- ^ Vasaly, Ann (1993). Representations. University of California Press. pp. 61. ISBN 978-0520201781.
- ^ Platner, Samuel Ball (1911). The topography and monuments of ancient Rome. Allyn and Bacon. pp. 228. ISBN 9781125381274.
- ^ Willis, George (2005). The Roman assemblies from their origin to the end of the republic. Adamant Media Corporation. pp. 10. ISBN 978-1402136832.
- ^ Evans, Jane DeRose (1992). The art of persuasion. University of Michigan Press. pp. 75-82. ISBN 978-0472102822.
- ^ Boëthius, Axel; rev. by Roger Ling and Tom Rasmussen (1978). Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0140561447.
- ^ Nicole Maser (2004-05-23) (PDF). Authority In Public Spaces. Georgia Institute of Technology. http://www.coa.gatech.edu/~italy/forum/assets/maser.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-02-28.
Coordinates: 41°53′33.99″N 12°29′6.15″E / 41.892775°N 12.4850417°E
