The Curia Saliorum on the Palatine Hill 1641

Curator: This is Giacomo Lauro's print, "The Curia Saliorum on the Palatine Hill." Editor: It strikes me as strangely empty, despite its architectural grandeur. The repetition of arches almost feels like a stage set, devoid of real life. Curator: Lauro, working centuries later, reconstructs a space associated with the Salii, priests of Mars. It speaks to ideas of masculinity, ritual, and civic duty in ancient Rome. Editor: And those arches...they suggest doorways, passageways. Do they symbolize the liminal space between the earthly and divine? Curator: Perhaps. The Curia embodies a highly gendered and class-based form of power, one that actively excluded many. Editor: Interesting. This print then acts as a kind of cultural artifact, encapsulating layers of symbolic meaning and power dynamics. Curator: Precisely. And, ultimately, reveals how certain narratives get memorialized while others are lost.