Does the Curia Pompeia survive?

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Ave

Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia Pompeia in 44 BC as we all know but does the actual structure still survive?. I know that Augustus had inaugurated the Curia Julia in honour of his great uncle but did he actually demolish the former building to do this? If I visit Rome again it would be fascinating to visit the actual place of Caesar's murder. Thanks in advance.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, GH!

 

There is considerably confusion between the Curia and the theatre of Pompey.

 

This comes from the Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome by Samuel Ball Platner (1929):

 

"Porticus Pompei: built in 55 B.C. by Pompeius at the same time as his Theatre (q.v.), and adjoining its scaena. The purpose of the porticus was to afford shelter for the spectators in case of rain. It is represented on the Marble Plan (frgs. 30, 110, and p22), and was a rectangular court, about 180 metres long and 135 wide, in which were four parallel rows of columns. The central area was laid out as a garden with shady walks and contained various works of art . Among these was a painting of Cadmus and Europa by Antiphilus, which is not to be identified with the representation of Europa which gave its name to the Porticus Europae (q.v.) described by Martial, which, A. Reinach maintains, was a bronze group made by Pythagoras of Rhegium for Tarentum . The Curia Pompei (q.v.) in which Caesar was murdered was probably an exedra in this porticus : propterea et in curia Hostilia et in Pompeia et post in Iulia, cum profana ea loca fuissent, templa esse per augures constituta ut in iis senatus consulta more maiorum iusta fieri possent). That the porticus was one of the most popular in the city is clear from the numerous incidental references.

 

The porticus was burned in the reign of Carinus, and restored by Diocletian , under the direction of Aelius Helvius Dionysius, the prefect of the city, who called one side of the restored structure porticus Iovia, and the other porticus Herculea, in honour of the two emperors Diocletian and Maximian. It may be referred to as the portica Nova, which was ruined by the earthquake of 442. No remains of this building are visible, and the discoveries on its site have been unimportant."

 

I believe the place of this Curia has been identified near the "Area Sacra di Torre Argentina". FOLLOW THIS LINK.

 

I HOPE THAT THIS MAY BE USEFUL.

Edited July 30, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Silentium]

Precisely.The sacred area of Largo Argentina is the biggest republican complex in Roma.

There were originally 4 temples, 3 of them were rectangular and the other was circular. They have been given different letters -A,B,C,D- (for practical reasons). The spaces between one temple and the other were occupied with other buildings and public baths.

It appears that the building in tophus (tuff in English?) behind temple B (devoted to Aedes Fortunae Huiusce Diei=fortune of the present day) is the Curia Pompeia.

The temple is very easy to spot because it is the only circular one.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

That's indeed what I was told when in Rome with my teacher of Roman archeology four month ago. What remains ( and has been excavated ) is the back of the porticus, a public toilet. It is not very visible from the street because it is a bit under the road and is thus very dark.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

I was recently in Rome and went to the Largo Argentina.

 

Here's a couple of pictures.....

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...si&img=1637

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...si&img=1636

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

Thanks for the useful information and the downloads people. I take it it would be useless speculating on where exactly Pompey's statue would have been located. That would give us an exact spot for Caesar's last moments in this worldly life.

[Gladius Hispaniensis]

It really amazes me that the Romans would not have made a better effort to preserve that particular curia. After all, it was there that the most famous Roman that ever lived breathed his last.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys!

 

Here comes a pic from the Area archeologica di Piazza Argentina.

 

 

I believe the Curia Pompeia has been identified at the area of the circular temple (Fortunae Huisce Diei).

Edited August 1, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Minimus Maximus]

Ave

Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Curia Pompeia in 44 BC as we all know but does the actual structure still survive?. I know that Augustus had inaugurated the Curia Julia in honour of his great uncle but did he actually demolish the former building to do this? If I visit Rome again it would be fascinating to visit the actual place of Caesar's murder. Thanks in advance.

 

This is an entry from Richardson, L., Jr.,_A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome_(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 104:

 

"_Curia Pompeii_: a meeting place for the senate, an annex of the Porticus Pompeii(q.v.), where Julius Caesar was assassinated (Cicero,_Div._2.23; Plutarch,_Caes._66.1-2,_Brut._14.1-2). Augustus later removed the statue of Pompey that stood in the curia, and the curia was walled up (Suetonius,_Iul._88,_Aug._31.5); later it was converted into a latrine (Cass. Dio 47.19.1). It seems likely that the enormous base of blocks of tufa on a platform of concrete behind Temple B in the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina (q.v.) is part of the fill that destroyed the curia and the latrine south of this the one meant by Dio.

G. Marchetti Longhi,_L'area sacra del Largo Argentina_(Rome, 1960), 76-8: Nash[,_Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome_, 2nd ed. (London, 1968)], 1.148."

 

The Porticus Pompeii mentioned above was itself the annex of the Theatrum Pompeii, the first stone theater to be erected in Rome (dedicated in 55 B.C.; previously, because of religious considerations, all theaters had been temporary structures, built of wood).

 

See also Coarelli, Filippo, "Curia Pompei, Pompeiana," in E. V. Steinby, ed.,_Lexicon Topographicum Urbis Romae_(Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 1993-2000), 1.334-5.

 

Minimus Maximus