A debate is a conversation with two different sides. The Romans
many times would debate at dinners or informal gatherings. The main
debating area was the forum. Public debates took place at the
comitium, an open area in the forum, by the senate house, where,
during the Republic, the popular assemblies met to vote on bills
and elect officers of state. There was also the rostra, which was a
platform for speeches on the north side of the comitium. The
assemblies were addressed from the rostra. Candidates for the
election of officers of state made their electoral speeches, and
senators and private citizens spoke on bills. Appeal trials, which
were decided on by the assemblies were also conducted from the
rostra. This continued after these hearings were transferred from
the assemblies to special jury courts. When the voting population
became too big for the comitium, the site of the assemblies and the
debates was moved to the opposite end of the forum by the Temple of
the Castor. The senate also held its own debate in the senate house
(curia).