Rostra

Rostra

The Rōstra (Italian: Rostri) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between. It is often referred to as a suggestus or tribunal, the first form of which dates back to the Roman Kingdom, the Volcanal.

It derives its name from the six rōstra (plural of rōstrum, a warship's ram) which were captured during the victory at Antium in 338 BC and mounted to its side. Originally, the term meant a single structure located within the Comitium space near the Forum and usually associated with the Senate Cūria. It began to be referred to as the Rōstra Vetera ("Elder Rōstra") in the imperial age to distinguish it from other later platforms designed for similar purposes which took the name "Rōstra" along with its builder's name or the person it honored.