Essay On Roman Citizenship

Roman Citizenship: Assimilation or Denial? Most, if not all people under the Empire’s rule desired roman citizenship. Through out the Severan Dynasty, there were colossal cultural and political changes, the most important being Caracalla’s edict that gave Roman citizenship to every free person of the Empire. What exactly does Roman citizenship entail though? ‘Roman’ is defined as, “of or relating to Rome or the people of Rome; of or relating to the ancient Roman Empire”1. Scholars could argue that those who acquired Roman citizenship either assimilated Roman culture with their own, or denied their own culture to submerge themselves fully into Roman society. The definition of ‘Roman’ serves to be evidence of assimilation between Roman culture and their own, through citizenship itself, participation in government, dress, material culture and imperial cult. Citizenship nowadays is a long and grueling process, at least in the United States: it entails 3-5 years of being a permanent resident once 18, apply for naturalization, attend a …show more content…
This could be called “Romanization”, although it’s more defined as the emulation of a culture, where a person fully takes on one culture while partially or fully ignoring another . Augustus had given cloaks and togas to people in Puteoli, having stated, “Romans should use the Greek dress and language and the Greeks the Roman” (Suet. Aug. 98). With this event and statement, Augustus was proclaiming his appreciation of Greek art, language and culture and felt that Greece should have done the same with the Roman arts. Augustus also was aiming for his empire to be universally identified by visitors and client kings, with all citizens clothed in the national toga. Roman senate and equestrian social levels were made up of people from most areas of the empire, and they all shared in the metropolitan Roman culture that Augustus was trying to advertise