07-29-2013, 04:48 PM
Roman society placed great emphasis on whether its inhabitants were Roman citizens, foreigners, or slaves. While contemporary sources often made ethnic classifications of their enemies and non-Romans, little mention has been made about ethnic difference between Roman citizens.
Yet even from republican times, Roman citizens had always consisted of people of different ethnicities, as citizenship was often granted to entire tribes or cities who had shown their loyalty to Rome. Just by the fact that they were given a paper that stated that they were Roman citizens, it wouldn't necessarily mean that they would automatically forget their ancestral identities as Samnites, Oscans, Etruscans, Celts, Celti-Iberians, Lybians, Britons or Illyrians, considering that many of these peoples were culturally very distinct with deep-rooted traditions.
However, unlike the multi-ethnic empires of the 19th and 20th centuries such as the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires where ethnic differences often threatened the division of the empire, all ethnicities with Roman citizenship seemed more or less united, with the only differences arising perhaps the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West.
Have there been any records of ethnic conflicts among people already awarded with Roman citizenship?
Yet even from republican times, Roman citizens had always consisted of people of different ethnicities, as citizenship was often granted to entire tribes or cities who had shown their loyalty to Rome. Just by the fact that they were given a paper that stated that they were Roman citizens, it wouldn't necessarily mean that they would automatically forget their ancestral identities as Samnites, Oscans, Etruscans, Celts, Celti-Iberians, Lybians, Britons or Illyrians, considering that many of these peoples were culturally very distinct with deep-rooted traditions.
However, unlike the multi-ethnic empires of the 19th and 20th centuries such as the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires where ethnic differences often threatened the division of the empire, all ethnicities with Roman citizenship seemed more or less united, with the only differences arising perhaps the Greek-speaking East and the Latin-speaking West.
Have there been any records of ethnic conflicts among people already awarded with Roman citizenship?