The curio maximus was an obscure priesthood in ancient Rome that had oversight of the curiae,[1] groups of citizens loosely affiliated within what was originally a tribe.
The curiones were required to be in good health and without physical defect, and could not hold any other civil or military office; the pool of willing candidates was thus neither large nor eager.
When the patricians objected to the candidacy of Gaius Mamilius Atellus, the tribunes of the plebs, who normally withheld themselves from religious affairs, were called in.
His successor, also a plebeian, was Gaius Scribonius Curio,[9] whose new cognomen passed to his descendants, most notably a father and son who were active at the time of Julius Caesar.
[14] Although the curio was a kind of priest, he had the power to convene meetings for political purposes, and each curia also had a flamen curialis whose duties were specifically religious.