Arch of Septimius Severus and Curia Julia (c1601). Engraving. 17 x 28. The Curia Julia is the third named Curia, or Senate House, in the ancient city of Rome. It was built in 44 BC, when Julius Caesar replaced Faustus Cornelius Sulla's reconstructed Curia Cornelia, which itself had replaced the Curia Hostilia. Caesar did so to redesign both spaces within the Comitium and the Roman Forum. The alterations within the Comitium reduced the prominence of the Senate and cleared the original space. The work, however, was interrupted by Caesar's assassination at the Theatre of Pompey, where the Senate had been meeting temporarily while the work was completed. The project was eventually finished by Caesar's successor, Augustus Caesar, in 29 BC. The Curia Julia is one of a handful of Roman structures that survive mostly intact. This is due to its conversion into the basilica of Sant'Adriano al Foro in the 7th century and several later restorations. However, the roof, the upper elevations of the side walls and the rear façade are modern and date from the remodeling of the deconsecrated church, in the 1930s. There were many curiae during the history of the Roman civilization, many of them existing at the same time. Curia means simply meeting house. While the senate met regularly at the curia within the comitium space, there were many other structures designed for it to meet when the need occurred: for example, meeting with someone who was not allowed to enter the sanctified curias of the Senate. The Curia Julia is the third named curia within the comitium. Each structure was rebuilt a number of times but originated from a single Etruscan temple, built to honor the truce of the Sabine conflict. When this original temple was destroyed, Tullus Hostilius rebuilt it and gave it his name. It lasted for a few hundred years until fire again destroyed the curia, and the new structure was dedicated to its financial benefactor, Cornelius Sulla. In fact, the structure now in the forum is the second incarnation of Caesar's curia. From 81 to 96, the Curia Julia was restored under Domitian. In 283, it was heavily damaged by a fire, at the time of Emperor Carinus. From 284 to 305, the Curia was then rebuilt by Diocletian. It is the remnants of Diocletian's building that stands today. In 412, the Curia was restored again, this time by Urban Prefect Annius Eucharius Epiphanius. On July 10, 1923, the Italian government acquired the Curia Julia and the adjacent convent of the Church of S. Adriano from the Collegio di Spagna for approximately 16,000 lire. The exterior of the Curia Julia features brick-faced concrete with a huge buttress at each angle. The lower part of the front wall was decorated with slabs of marble. The upper part was covered with stucco imitation of white marble blocks. A single flight of steps leads up to the bronze doors. The current bronze doors are modern replicas; the original bronze doors were transferred to the Basilica of St. John Lateran by Pope Alexander VII in 1660. A coin was found within the doors during their transfer. That allowed archaeologists to date repairs made to the Senate House and the addition of the bronze doors to the reign of Emperor Domitian. The original appearance of the Senate House is known from an Emperor Augustus denarius of 28 BC, which shows the veranda held up by columns on the front wall of the building. The interior of the Curia Julia is fairly austere. The hall is 25.20 m long by 17.61 m wide. There are three broad steps that could have fitted five rows of chairs or a total of about 300 senators. The walls are stripped but were originally veneered in marble two thirds of the way up. The two main features of the interior of the Curia Julia are its Altar of Victory and its striking floor. At the far end of the hall could be found the Altar of Victory. It consisted of a statue of Victoria, the personification of victory, standing on a globe, extending a wreath. The altar was placed in the Curia by Augustus to celebrate Rome's military prowess, more specifically his own victory at the Battle of Actium, in 31 BC. The altar was removed in the 5th century in 408 AD, as part of a general backlash against the pagan traditions of Ancient Rome. The other main feature of the Curia's interior, the floor, is in contrast to the building's colorless exterior. Featured on the floor is the Roman art technique of opus sectile in which materials are cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make pictures of patterns. That is described by Claridge as stylized rosettes in squares alternate with opposed pairs of entwined cornucopias in rectangles, all worked in green and red porphyry on backgrounds of Numidian yellow Phrygian purple.