Expert: Maria - 11/15/2009

Question
I was wondering if you had any reflections or thoughts about this question:

"How did Rome define freedom?"

Answer
Hello,

For the Romans the concept of “freedom” (“libertas” in Latin) was closely connected with  the concept of citizenship, i.e. the status of a citizen  with its attendant duties and full political rights, including the right to vote and to hold public office, which were a privilege of a Roman citizen (civis Romanus).

The Romans in fact first used citizenship as a device to distinguish the residents of the city of Rome from those peoples whose territories Rome had conquered and incorporated. Later, as their empire continued to grow, the Romans granted citizenship to their allies throughout all over Italy and then to peoples in other Roman provinces, until in 212 AD under the emperor Caracalla citizenship was extended to all free inhabitants of the empire.

Free citizens were only those who were born of free parents, since in Roman society there were slaves and freedmen, i.e. slaves who were manumitted, but were not free citizens.

In short, we can say that the Romans defined freedom as the condition of being free of restraints, with reference  to full political rights which were predicated on citizenship.

When a Roman said in fact “Civis Romanus sum" (I am a Roman citizen), such a locution implied, in a wider sense, all the rights and duties associated with such a state as well as the privileges granted to Roman citizens all over the great Roman empire.

Hope this brief outline can be helpful to you.

Best regards,
Maria