CURIA

curia, in ancient rome, a section of the roman people, according to an ancient division traditionally ascribed to romulus. he is said to have divided the people into three tribes, and to have subdivided each of these into ten _curiae_, each of which contained a number of families (_gentes_). it is more probable that the _curiae_ were not purely artificial creations, but represent natural associations of families, artificially regulated and distributed to serve a political purpose. the local names of _curiae_ which have come down to us suggest a local origin for the groups; but as membership was hereditary, the local tie doubtless grew weak with successive generations. each _curia_ was organized as a political and religious unit. as a political corporation it had no recognized activities beyond the command of a vote in the _comitia curiata_ (see comitia), a vote whose nature was determined by a majority in the votes of the individual members (_curiales_). but as a religious unit the _curia_ had more individual activity. there were, it is true, ceremonies (_sacra_) performed by all the _curiae_ to _juno curis_ in which each _curia_ offered its part in a collective rite of the whole people; but each _curia_ had also its peculiar _sacra_ and its own special place of worship. the religious affairs of each were conducted by a priest called _curio_ assisted by a _flamen curialis_. the thirty _curiae_ must always have comprised the whole roman people; for citizenship depended on membership of a _gens_ (_gentilitas_) and every member of a _gens_ was _ipso facto_ attached to a _curia_. they therefore included plebeians as well as patricians (q.v.) from the date at which plebeians were recognized as free members of the body politic. but, just as enjoyment of the full rights of _gentilitas_ was only very gradually granted to plebeians, so it is probable that a plebeian did not, when admitted through a _gens_ into a _curia_, immediately exercise all the rights of a _curialis_. it is unlikely, for instance, that plebeians voted in the comitia curiata at the early date implied by the authorities; but it is probable that they acquired the right early in the republican period, and certain that they enjoyed it in cicero's time. a plebeian was for the first time elected _curio maximus_ in 209 b.c. the _curia_ ceased to have any importance as a political organization some time before the close of the republican period. but its religious importance survived during the principate; for the two festivals of the fornacalia and the fordicidia were celebrated by the _curiales_ (ovid, _fasti_, ii. 527, iv. 635). the term _curia_ seems often to have been applied to the common shrine of the _curiales_, and thus to other places of assembly. hence the ancient senate house at rome was known as the curia hostilia. the _curia_ was also adopted as a state division in a large number of municipal towns; and the term was often applied to the senate in municipal towns (see decurio), probably from the name of the old senate house at rome. authorities.--mommsen, _romisches staatsrecht_, iii. p. 89 ff. (leipzig, 1887); _romische forschungen_ i. p. 140 ff. (berlin, 1864, &c.); clason, "die zusammensetzung der curien und ihrer comitien" (_kritische erorterungen_ i., rostock, 1871); karlowa, _romische rechtsgeschichte_, i. p. 382 ff. (leipzig, 1885); e. hofmann, _patricische und plebeische curien_ (wien, 1879); for the _fornacalia_, &c., marquardt, _staatsverwaltung_, iii. p. 197 (leipzig, 1885); for local names of curiae, pauly-wissowa, _realencyclopadie_, iv. p. 1822 (new edition, 1893, &c.); o. gilbert, _geschichte und topographie der stadt rom_ (leipzig, 1883); for municipal _curiae_, mommsen, in _ephemeris epigraphica_, ii. p. 125; schmidt, in _rheinisches museum_, xlv. (1890) p. 599 ff. on the roman comitia in general see also g. w. botsford, _roman assemblies_ (1909). (a. m. cl.) in medieval latin the word _curia_ was used in the general sense of "court." it was thus used of "the court," meaning the royal household (_aula_); of "courts" in the sense of solemn assemblies of the great nobles summoned by the king (_curiae solennes_, &c.); of courts of law generally, whether developed out of the imperial or royal _curia_ (see curia regis) or not (e.g. _curia baronis_, court baron, _curia christianitatis_, court christian). sometimes _curia_ means jurisdiction, or the territory over which jurisdiction is exercised; whence possibly its use, instead of _cortis_, for an enclosed space, the court-yard of a house, or for the house itself (cf. the english "court," e.g. hampton court, and the ger. _hof_). the word curia is now only used of the court of rome, as a convenient term to express the sum of the organs that make up the papal government (see curia romana). see du cange, _gloss. med. et inf. lat._ (1883), s.v. "curia."