Situated at the foot of the Curia (senate house) in the heart of the Roman Forum, the Rostra is a raised platform from which politicians would speak to the crowds. In the Republican period the Rostra resounded with the speeches of all the great exponents of the oratorical art, standing in those days between the Lapis Niger and the present Curia. The ruins which can be seen today are those of the Rostra moved in 44 BC by Julius Caesar.