Source
LTUR II Fig 153
Timeline
- Late 6th/early 5th century: First building phase of this structure
- 338 BCE: Structure given its name
- 310-300 BCE: Second building phase
- c. 263 BCE: Comitium is changed, Rostra takes the shape of a circular arc.
- 80 BCE: Sulla raises the entire area with new paving and has a statue of himself placed on it or in front of it
- 45/44 BCE: Rostra is destroyed, reconstructed in a different position.
Physical evidence
- Statues were added of magistrates over time, generally those killed in violation of the ius gentium.
Literary sources
- Cic. Balb. 53
- Dion. Hal. 3.71.2
- Liv. 4.17.6, 8.14.12 (the former anachronistically uses the name Rostra to refer to the structure before it got its name, the latter tells the story of how the structure got its name)
- Plin. nat. 7.212
- Plut. Cato min. 44.1-4
- Varro ling. 5.155