Rome22 The Senate House or Curia A Curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people (i.e. more or less a tribe) and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs. The Curia Hostilia in Rome, which was the building where the Senate usually met. The Senate, initially just a meeting of the city elders from all tribes (its name comes from "senex", which means "old man"), saw its powers grow together with the conquest that brought a town of humble origins to rule a large Republic (and then decrease steadily with the advent of the Empire).