08-11-2005, 09:59 PM
I'm sure it's been done for purely cinematic, or rather cinematographic reasons. It's far easier to pan a camera across a semicircular theater of raised seats and get everyone in, showing the senators in their factions shaking fists and shouting one another, than having to deal with corners. In the old Curia Hostilia it is probable that the senators were just seated on benches or folding chairs on the floor, a nightmare to film and still get the impression of the Senate as a whole and in its constituent factions. Chalk this up to dramatic license.
Pecunia non olet