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Tour of the
Roman Senate House
and
Courthouse
Senate House – “Curia”
Courthouse – “Basilica Julia”
Roman Republic
The Republic was broken into three branches of government.
Executive
• two consuls (chief
executives)
Legislative
Judicial
• Senate and two
• Praetors
Assemblies
• elected
• oversaw the entire
legal system
• commanded army
• Elected officials
• wealthy citizens
were members of
the senate
• directed
government with
advice of legislative
branch
• heads of the
Roman court
system
• 1 year terms
• consuls could veto
each other
The division of power is an
example of “Checks and
Balances”
• all other citizens
were members of
the two assemblies
• voted on laws and
elected officials
Both the Senate and
Courthouse are located in
the Forum.
Senate House
Courthouse
Curia
Here is a 3-D Model
of the original
senate house. The
current one was
rebuilt by Mussolini
in the 1920s using
original materials.
The Curia is where
the Roman
Senators would
meet and discuss
politics.
These are the original senate
doors that ancient Roman
senators would walk through
to get inside the senate house.
The senators were one of the
three branches of the Roman
Republic and were responsible
for foreign and financial
policies. In addition, the
senators advised the two
consuls (leaders) of Rome.
The senate was seen as the
most powerful of the three
branches and was made up of
wealthy landowners.
This is a model of the interior of the Curia (the senate house)
Besides the senate, the other groups in the legislative branch were the two
assemblies. The assemblies consisted of all the “lower” class citizens. They were
responsible for voting on laws and electing officials.
Judicial Branch
The Courthouse – Basilica Julia
Today this is all
that remains
A digital mockup of what the
courthouse
looked like in
ancient times.
The duty of the Judicial branch was to carry out the laws of the Roman Empire in order to ensure
peace, stability and order. 180 magistrates (judges) would oversee the court cases. They were
broken into 4 court rooms, so there were 45 judges at each trial. The accused were allowed to have
lawyers and the public was allowed to watch the trials. Oftentimes lawyers would hire crowds of
spectators to applaud and jeer the opposing council. Thus, court cases were a form of
entertainment for many Romans.
Digital representation of the interior of the Basilica Julia, the building was divided
into four courts by simply putting up screens. The magistrates, lawyers, and
accused would be on the bottom floor, while the spectators would be in the
balconies above.
Roman Laws
The job of the judicial branch was to uphold Roman laws. These laws were based upon the
concept of “natural law” which was first created by Greek philosophers. The main idea of natural
law is that all humans possess the ability to reason, so if reason was common to all people, all
people must be equal. If all human beings are fundamentally alike, they should all be subject to
the same moral laws and principles. This is the basic principle that underlies the modern concept
that people have natural rights that no government can deny.
If all humans must follow these laws, then the laws must be made public knowledge. In about
450 B.C. the Romans engraved their laws on tablets called the Twelve Tables. These laws were
placed in the Forum for all to view. This was the first time the Romans had ever written down
their laws, and these laws became the foundation of the Roman Republic.
In 521 AD – nearly 1,000 years after the Twelve
Tables were written, Emperor Justinian ordered
the compilation of all Roman laws from the time
period of the Tables onward. This written record
became known as the Justinian Code
To explore the Justinian Code you will be visiting
the Basilica Julia and will complete the tasks on
your handout.