Roman society always included more than the people born in Rome and the immediate surroundings. From its earliest days, Rome had important contact with other peoples, particularly the Etruscans and Greeks. According to one legend, Romulus invited all the exiles on the Italian peninsula to come to his city. In the beginning, Rome had just three tribes that voted on laws and defended the city. By the late Republic, it had 35 tribes, as people from other towns were granted Roman citizenship. That trend of bringing outside people into the government and society continued during the empire.
Gaining Roman citizenship was important for non-Romans. As citizens, they could take part in politics and receive certain legal protections. The Romans first gave citizenship to their Latin allies, then eventually spread the privilege throughout the Italian peninsula-but only after the Social War (see page 26). Julius Caesar granted citizenship to the people
Foreigners and Barbarians
To the ancient Greeks, anyone who was not Greek was called a barbaros—a foreigner. The word, however, also had a stronger, negative meaning, suggesting that the foreigner was ignorant because he did not speak or understand the Greek language. The Romans did not look down so harshly on foreigners, although they adapted the Greek word barbaros to the Latin barbarus, which had roughly the same meaning.
The English word barbarian comes from these ancient words; it means someone who is crude and uncivilized. A barbarian might also commit a barbarity, or cruel and violent act. Past historians often referred to the various tribes that invaded the Roman Empire as barbarians, reflecting Rome's attitude toward people it considered inferior. In reality, however, many of these tribes had already adapted Roman ways or developed their own worthwhile cultures.
In some colonies he founded, and both he and Marius before him granted citizenship to the soldiers they recruited in southern Gaul. To these men, the benefits of becoming citizens were worth the risk of dying in battle.
As the Roman Empire grew, the emperors also gave more rights and privileges to people from the provinces. Vespasian, who ruled from 69 to 79, was one of the first emperors to do this, bringing more provincials into the Senate and other parts of the government. Later, Septimius did the same, along with naming more equites to the Senate.
In general, these changes gave emperors a new group of loyal supporters in Rome, while weakening the influence of the city’s local patrician families. The last major policy on citizenship came in 212, when the emperor Caracalla granted citizenship to all free men throughout the empire.
Even before granting citizenship to all the provincials, Rome heavily influenced life in the lands it conquered. The process of making the provinces more like Rome is known today as Romanization. Julius Caesar started this process by building Roman schools in the western part of the empire. They taught the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic to young children. Roman citizens settled in the provinces, bringing their language and customs, and Roman officials carried out policies that were in the government’s interests. Emperors built temples to the Roman gods and public buildings similar to the ones in the capital city. Before gaining Roman citizenship, some provincials received Latin rights. Although one step below full citizenship, these rights made residents more loyal to Rome, and the most ambitious provincials won jobs in the Roman government. Latin rights gave the provincials legal protection in business dealings and trials. The growing role of provincials in the army and government eventually led to the first non-Roman emperors.
Through the centuries, the people conquered by Rome also influenced the Romans. The Greeks had the greatest influence, and the link between ancient Greece and Rome is seen today in the idea of a Greco-Roman heritage that shaped the Western world. In the eastern half of the empire, Greek was one of the official languages. In Rome, scholars looked to Greece for ideas about art, philosophy, and government. The Romans respected the learning and intelligence of the Greeks and often hired them as teachers and doctors. The Romans also brought many Greek words into the Latin language. Paradoxically, the Romans also generally had a low opinion of the Greek character, often accusing Greeks of being deceitful and having low morals.
World History
