The Ravishing Tale of the Rostra

Gentle Readers,

Today's post was written by stalwart students Kyle Gelina and Conor Murphy. Public speaking is always important!

The Rostra (the broad, brick-faced platform at bottom)

The Rostra (or in Italian: Rostri) is a speaking platform from ancient Rome where senatorial class-members and other important figure-heads could speak out and be heard by the viewers and Senate of Rome. The Senate sat in the Curia across from the Comitium and Rostra in the Roman Forum, as shown in the picture labeled Rostra topographical view. The Rostra originally displayed ship beaks, which gave it its name rostra, which were represented as a sort of trophy as well as a memorial of the Romans many historical naval battles and victory over the Latins around 338 BC. On the southern rim of the Comitium, which served as a meeting place for the Romans to hold trials and other public events, lies the Rostra (see plan). 

The Comitium + Rostra Complex in the Forum.

The Rostra was rebuilt several times throughout its history. It was first rebuilt in the Republican period, then again in the Imperial period by Emperor Augustus. The Rostra was not a stranger from being moved throughout the forum, two great examples were from Caesar and Augustus where the Rostra was moved to face the temple of deified Julius Caesar (see image below labeled “Picture of the Rostra facing the Temple of Deified Julius Caesar”). The significance behind what we know about Augustus’ new Rostra was that instead of it originally facing the Curia (or towards the Senators) from the Republican period, is that now it would face more towards the forum, leaving a larger space for Roman spectators. This is a great symbolic way of showing a shift in power or concern of view from the Senate to the people.

The first to display this type of transition of power was Gaius Grachus, where on the Rostra he famously turned his back to the Curia and Senate to face the plebeian citizens around 122 BC. This inevitably led into a revolt which resulted in Gaius Grachus’ death, and being the first case of recorded violence within the Roman Forum. The Rostra therefore is a symbol of power to those that knew how to utilize public speaking and a potential symbol of what the typical ideals of an ancient Roman would have had. This is a great example of how a speaker utilized the Rostra and the power that it offered to attempt a juristic change which ultimately led to history being made.

Now not all uses of the Rostra catalyzed a gain of power as Antony’s use of it will show. Antony used the Rostra after a meeting with Octavian and Lepidus to display the severed head and right hand of Cicero according to Plutarch in his Antony, and what the Roman people “…saw was not so much the face of cicero as the image of Antony’s soul.” (Aicher, Rome Alive, Vol. 1). Since Cicero merely wrote a book that criticized Marcus Antony, the example of the power that Antony tried to grab, though in a brutal manner, concluded in him losing favor with the people.

Picture of the Rostra facing the Temple of the Deified Julius Caesar.

Whether the public displays of Julius Caesar rejecting a laurel crown to be Emperor or the display of trophies from wars and battles. The Rostra has both propelled (or jettisoned) public speakers and officials through the talk of Rome to catalyze either their ascension, or fallout, of power with the people in the Republic and Empire. The image of the trophy from when the Romans beat the Latins and used the ship beaks to make the Rostra gave it a Roman style in how it acted as a monument to their victory. Surely walking on their conquered enemies did not help to slack the speakers ambition or goals, as Gaius Grachus had shown. Though it can also tell a cautionary tale from how Antony lost favor in the eyes of at least some do to his excessively gruesome actions with the head and hand of Cicero. Throughout time the catalytic powers the Rostrum holds is unparalleled on account of its public staging and central location, as a result many political figures used it to try and gain power resulting in historical events being made.

Current Excavations of the Comitium and Rostra Complex.