Roman people

The Roman people were the citizens of Rome during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. At first, only people from the city of Rome and nearby areas were considered Roman. Over time, more people were given the right to be Roman citizens, until almost everyone living in the Roman Empire was included. At its height, the Roman Empire covered large parts of Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.

Border changes of the Roman state from 6th century BC to 15th century AD

Being a Roman citizen was very important. It gave people a sense of belonging together, even though they came from many different places. The Romans were good at mixing their culture with the cultures of the people they met, especially from Greece. This helped the empire grow strong.

Even after the Western Roman Empire ended in the 5th century, the idea of being Roman stayed alive in some places. In Italy, people from Rome are still called Romans today. In other parts of Europe, like Switzerland, some names and words still come from the Romans. The Roman way of life and ideas continued to influence many parts of the world long after the empire itself disappeared.

Romanness

Meaning of "Roman"

The word "Roman" can mean many things. It can refer to a time period, a style of art and objects, a place, or a way of thinking and behaving. Even though these ideas are connected, they are not exactly the same. What it meant to be Roman changed over time and depended on who you asked. Some Romans thought it was about where you lived, what language you spoke, or what people your family came from. Others believed it was more about having Roman rights, following Roman customs, and supporting the Roman government.

At the height of the Roman Empire, being Roman meant belonging to a large group of people who lived under the same rulers, even though they came from many different places and had many different traditions. For many famous Romans, like the speaker Cicero, being Roman was about following Roman traditions and serving the government, not just about family history. Rome was good at welcoming and including people from other places. This idea started from stories about how Rome was founded, including the mixing of different groups from the very beginning. Some Roman writers even proud of Rome for being a place where many different cultures came together.

Frescoes from the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii, Italy, Roman artwork dated to the mid-1st century BC

Some Roman writers worried about Rome changing too much as more people from outside Italy became citizens. But they did not think that stopping new citizens was the answer. They mainly wanted to slow down the process of freeing slaves and giving citizenship. These worries were not about race or physical appearance. In Rome, people of different looks, including black people, were treated the same as others in terms of jobs and social status. The big differences in Roman society were about class and rank, not about how people looked. Rome used slavery a lot, but slaves came from many different groups and were not enslaved because of their ethnicity.

Non-Romans

Coin of Emperor Constantine II (r. 337–340), depicting the emperor on horseback, trampling two barbarians

Even though Ancient Rome is often called a society that did not judge people by race, Romans did have strong opinions about cultures and peoples outside their world, called "barbarians". Over time, most Roman writers in later times thought that anyone outside Roman borders was not truly Roman. But being a "barbarian" was not about language or family background. It was about customs and behavior. Romans thought their way of life was better, not because of natural differences, but because of their culture. A barbarian could become Roman through the Roman state's duty to conquer and change, or civilize, other peoples.

One group that Romans often did not like was the Jews. Many ordinary Romans did not like Jews and their practices, though opinions among the Roman elite varied. The Roman government did not fully oppose the Jews, as there were many Jewish people living in Rome and at least thirteen places of Jewish worship in the city. Roman dislike of Jews was not based on race but on the belief that Jews refused to fit into Roman ways. The Jews followed their own rules and religion, which Romans found strange and suspicious, especially because they did not give up their customs even after being conquered.

Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Fresco of Roman banquet scene from Herculaneum, Italy, c. 50 BC

The story of Rome’s beginning is filled with myths and legends. The city’s traditional founding date is 753 BC, and the start of the Roman Republic is said to be 509 BC, though these dates are not exact. Myths about Rome’s beginning include tales of a king named Latinus, a hero named Evander of Pallantium who brought Greek culture to Italy, and a Trojan hero named Aeneas. The city’s legendary founder, Romulus, is part of these complex stories. These myths helped later Romans accept people from many places into their world.

The first Romans were mainly Latin-speaking people from the Latins, an Italic people group living in an area called Latium. By the 6th century, Rome had taken over other Latin towns like Antemnae and Collatia, and defeated Alba Longa, which had led the Latins before.

Rome grew stronger through many victories. By 270 BC, Rome ruled all of Italy south of the Po river. They then defeated big powers like Carthage and the Hellenistic kingdoms. By the middle of the second century BC, Rome was the master of the Mediterranean. Around this time, many people in Italy south of the Po river became Roman citizens. Later, after a war called the Social War, all people south of the Po river became citizens. In 49 BC, Julius Caesar gave citizenship to the people of Cisalpine Gaul. Over time, many more people became Roman citizens in different ways, such as serving in the army or being granted citizenship by leaders.

Romans of the early empire

In the early Roman Empire, people had different legal statuses, including Roman citizens, people from provinces, foreigners, freed slaves, and slaves. Over time, more and more people became Roman citizens. The empire was good at including people from other places, which helped it succeed. Even some emperors talked about how easy it was for foreigners to become Romans.

From 27 BC to AD 284, known as the Principate, people from other places settled in the Roman world and were given rights. They could become soldiers called auxilia, which led to full citizenship. In 212 AD, Emperor Caracalla granted citizenship to all free people in the empire through the Antonine Constitution. This greatly increased the number of Romans. By this time, many people in the provinces already thought of themselves as Romans.

Late antiquity

Over time, the city of Rome lost some of its special status in the empire. By the end of the third century, its importance was mostly symbolic. Many emperors ruled from other cities closer to the empire’s borders. People in late antiquity often thought of Rome differently, and many Romans came from faraway places with different customs and languages.

As Christianity became the main religion in the Roman Empire, Roman identity changed. Some leaders who followed old Roman traditions felt that true Romans needed to keep those traditions. But many others, especially Christians, saw Rome’s importance in a new way. Over time, being Roman became more tied to being Christian. This change helped shape how people thought about Roman identity in the later years of the empire.

Later history

The Roman Empire's expansion helped spread Roman identity across many lands that had never shared a common culture before. This Roman identity lasted long after the empire itself ended.

Western Europe

From the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 400s to the wars of Emperor Justinian I in the 500s, many western societies kept a Roman civil administration and aristocracy. New rulers often tried to act like Roman leaders, especially in Italy. Roman culture and law stayed important for centuries, even after the empire ended. People could still become Roman citizens in the 600s and 700s, though Roman identity faded by the 700s and 800s.

The wars of Justinian I aimed to take back lost lands, which led to Roman identity fading in places like Gaul, Spain, and Britain. Local identities took over, and Roman law and culture mixed with new traditions. In Britain, people in cities held onto Roman ways, but in rural areas, they blended with Germanic groups.

North Africa

In North Africa, the Vandal Kingdom didn't claim loyalty to Rome. The people there didn't often call themselves Romans, but kept Roman traditions like names and Christianity. After the empire took back North Africa, the local people were seen as different from Romans, and this split remained even after the Muslim conquests.

Eastern Mediterranean

In the eastern parts of the old empire, people kept calling themselves Romans for many centuries. They saw themselves as part of the Roman Empire, even as it changed over time. After the Muslim conquests, the term "Roman" began to mean more like the Greek-speaking people of the remaining empire. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Greek people still called themselves Romans, and some Ottoman Turks also used the term to describe themselves for a time.