What is "curia"

Curia \Cu"ri*a\ (k?"r?-?), n.; pl. Curle (-?). [L.]

1. (Rom. Antiq.)

   1. One of the thirty parts into which the Roman people were divided by Romulus.

   2. The place of assembly of one of these divisions.

   3. The place where the meetings of the senate were held; the senate house.

2. (Middle Ages) The court of a sovereign or of a feudal lord; also; his residence or his household.
   --Burrill.

3. (Law) Any court of justice.

4. The Roman See in its temporal aspects, including all the machinery of administration; -- called also curia Romana.

c.1600, one of the ten divisions of each of the three ancient Roman tribes; also "the Senate-house of Rome," from Latin curia "court," perhaps from *co-wiria "community of men." Transferred to the Papal court (1840).

n. The central administration of the Roman Catholic Church.

A curia, plural curiae, is an assembly, council, or court, in which public, official, or religious issues are discussed and decided. In ancient Rome, the populace was divided into 30 curiae, which met in order to confirm the election of magistrates, witness the installation of priests, the making of wills, and adoptions. Lesser curiae existed for other purposes. The word curia also came to denote the places of assembly, especially the senate. Similar institutions existed in other towns and cities of Italy. In medieval times, a king's council was often referred to as a curia. Today, the most famous curia is the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church which assists the Roman Pontiff in the hierarchical government of the Church.

In Roman Catholicism, a curia consists of a group of officials who assist in the governance of a particular Church. These curias range from the relatively simple diocesan curia, to the larger patriarchal curias, to the Roman Curia, which is the central government of the Catholic Church. Other Roman Catholic bodies, such as religious institutes, may also have curias. For example, the Legion of Mary has a rank called the Curia. It stands above the Praesidium but below the Regia. The Curia is responsible for several Praesidia.

These curias are historically descended from the Roman Curiae, and they keep that name even though they now have very different functions. When the Roman Empire collapsed, many of the administrative functions previously done by the state were subsumed by the only solid institution left, which was the church. The Bishop and curia took the place of the government officials, often to the point of actually sitting at the same chair in the same building. The Curia therefore passed into religious hands, and afterwards changed functions many times but always keeping its traditional name, at least in those Christian denominations that keep a strong continuity with the Apostolic tradition.

[[Image:Laudatio Turiae.jpg|300px|thumb|

fragment of Laudatio Turiae
" Praise of Turia "

]] Curia or Turia or Thuria (ca. 60 BC – 5 BC) was a Roman woman who became famous for her bravery and devotion.

Curia may refer to:

• Curia, one of the ten subdivisions of each of the three Roman tribes. Also of similar divisions in other cities.
• The building belonging to a Roman curia, serving mainly as its place of worship, see Ancient Roman religion
• the building of the Roman senate, see Curia Julia

• Curia (Roman Catholic Church), a group of officials who assist in the governance of a particular Church within Roman Catholicism
• Roman Curia, the administrative apparatus of the Holy See
• any Ecclesiastical court

• the Middle Latin term for a feudal court, see Court (royal)
• the Middle Latin term for a court of law, see Legal history (medieval)

• Curia herb ( Justicia pectoralis), also known as tilo
• Ayapana triplinervis, a tropical plant

• The Latin name for Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland

• As CURIA - abbreviation (also CVRIA) for Court of Justice of the European Union

People named Curia:

• Curia (wife of Quintus Lucretius) ( – 5 BC), ancient Roman woman who hid her husband
• Francesco Curia (1538–1610), Italian painter

The gens Curia was a plebeian family at Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned at the beginning of the third century BC, when the family was rendered illustrious by Manius Curius Dentatus.

A curia in ancient Rome came to be known as any building designated or built specifically as a place of meeting by either the senate or any political organization. Originally the term referred to the comitia curiata, the thirty original ethnic subdivisions of "curia", or Roman people, who assembled into the curiat assembly within Comitium space near the Roman forum.

There have been a number of Curia houses built specifically for the senate, as well as other buildings of a similar nature. The most famous of these curiae, aside from the Curia Julia the only surviving Roman Senate building in the city is the Curia of the Theatre of Pompey, where Julius Caesar was murdered. After his death, the structure was burned by an angry mob and then converted into a latrine.