Roman and Local Citizenship in the Long Second Century CE

Imperial and Local Citizenship in the Long Second Century CE offers a radical new history of Roman citizenship in the long century before Caracalla's universal grant of citizenship in 212 CE. Earlier work portrayed the privileges of citizen status in this period as eroded by its wide diffusion. Building on recent scholarship that has revised downward estimates for the spread of citizenship, this work investigates the continuing significance of Roman citizenship in the domains of law, economics and culture. From the writing of wills to the swearing of oaths and crafting of marriage, Roman citizens conducted affairs using forms and language that were often distinct from the populations among which they resided. Attending closely to patterns at the level of province, region and city, this volume offers a new portrait of the early Roman empire: a world that sustained an exclusive regime of citizenship in a context of remarkable political and cultural integration.

About the Author

Myles Lavan is Reader in Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews, author of Slaves to Rome and co-editor, with Richard E. Payne and John Weisweiler, of Cosmopolitanism and Empire: Universal Rulers, Local Elites and Cultural Integration in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean . Clifford Ando is David B. and Clara E. Stern Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. His previous publications include Imperial Rome AD 193 to 284 ; Law, Language, and Empire in the Roman Tradition ; and The Matter of the Gods .