CURULE CHAIR, in Roman antiquity, a chair adorned with ivory, wherein the great magistrates of Rome had a right to sit and be carried.

The curule magistrates were the ædiles, the prætors, censors, and consuls. The chair was fitted in a kind of chariot, whence it had its name. The senators who had borne the offices of ædiles, prætors, &c. were carried to the senate-house in this chair, as were also

also those who triumphed, and such as went to administer justice, &c. See ÆDILE, &c.