Curia (Roman Empire)

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The curiae were originally 30 departments into which the three tribes of the ancient Roman full citizens or patricians (the Ramnes , Tities and Luceres ) were divided. Each of them contained a number of families, and they formed the basis of the oldest and only kind of people's assemblies, the comitia curiata , which went back to Servius Tullius , in which votes were taken according to curiae. Each of these had its head, called Curio, and all together had a head, Curio maximus , and from these curions, with the help of a priest ( Flamen curialis) also administers the special acts of worship ( sacra ) that were incumbent on each curia.

history

In the republic the people's assembly was the highest organ. In this assembly ( comitia from Latin "comire", to come together) decisions were made on war and peace, officials were elected and laws passed. The people appeared organized in certain associations. The mature republican constitution knew three different forms of structure of the community, namely comitia curiata , the comitia centuriata and the comitia tributa . These emerged at different times and differed from one another.

The curia assembly ( comitia curiata ) certainly represents the oldest popular assembly of the Romans (6th century BC, the beginnings going back further). The community members were divided into curiae in the curia assembly. These curia committee consisted of 30 official servants ( lictors ), each of whom constitutes a curia. The main focus of these curiate comitia was most likely in the sacred area, in particular the adrogatio - acceptance of a non-violent citizen by another as a child, and the establishment of the testamentum calatis comitiis (testament before the convened comitia).

The citizenship formed itself in curiae, centuria or tribes only for the purpose of voting. The citizenship had no right of initiative, only the presiding magistrate had this. The associations could either accept or reject the legislative proposals ( rogationes ) or election proposals submitted by the magistrate .

literature

  • Wolfgang Kunkel, Martin Josef Schermaier: Roman legal history. 14th edition, Böhlau (UTB), Cologne / Wien / Weimar 2005, ISBN 978-3-8252-2225-3 , pp. 10-15.