Fodor's Expert Review Comitium

The open space in front of the Curia was the political hub of ancient Rome. Julius Caesar had rearranged the Comitium, moving the Curia to its current site and transferring the imperial Rostra, the podium from which orators spoke to the people (decorated originally with the prows of captured ships, or rostra, the source for the term "rostrum"), to a spot just south of where the Arch of Septimius Severus would be built. It was from this location that Mark Antony delivered his funeral oration in Caesar's honor. On the left of the Rostra stands what remains of the Tempio di Saturno, which served as ancient Rome's state treasury. The area of the Comitium has been under excavation for several years and is currently not open to visitors.