Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Curia

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CU'RIA. A common hall, or place in which any corporate body, such for instance as the curiae of the Roman burghers, met to transact matters connected with their body, or to perform religious duties; whence the word came to be applied more specially to the building in which the Roman senate met to carry on their deliberations. There were several of these in the city distinguished from one another by the names of the individuals who dedicated them; as the curia Hostilia, Julia, Pompeia, but the former was the one mostly used for the senate house. Varro, L. L. v. 155. Id. vi. 46. Benecke ad Cic. Cat. iv. 1. 2.