This volume, part of the Oxford Studies on Early Empires series, was created with the aim of re-analysing and deepening the issue of the diffusion of civitas during the second century ce. As reiterated by more than one of the contributors, a still valid starting point remains the work on Roman citizenship by A.N. Sherwin-White (The Roman Citizenship [19732]). Indeed, the fundamental book by Sherwin-White represents an essential reference point when addressing this question up to this day. On the other hand, recent decades and a number of studies and discoveries oblige scholars to question some aspects of the volume, in particular the evolution of citizenship from the second century onwards, its diffusion and, above all, the spirit and atmosphere in which the progressive expansion of Roman citizenship took place. Furthermore, this progressive expansion appears to be far from homogeneous throughout the empire, in particular in the case of the east, the area that the papers in the volume especially focus on. The editors provide an in-depth examination of all the issues in the introduction.
In the first chapter A.Z. Bryen, approaching the question from the perspective of Eastern communities, takes on one of the most problematic points of Sherwin-White's volume: his optimistic vision of the diffusion of the civitas, seen as an almost spontaneous cultural homologation that took place at a constant rhythm, consolidated in the East by loyalty to the emperor. This vision, now revisited in the light of the data and numerous examples illustrated by Bryen, was a consequence of the time (the first edition of Sherwin-White's volume dates back to 1939). Today one should conclude that the diffusion, especially in the East, was anything but homogeneous. In fact, it was rather patchy, just as the presence of a group of Roman citizens within local communities is anything but homogeneous. The idea of a peaceful and voluntary adherence to the Roman model is also to be taken with caution. Filtered testimonies are available, in many cases coming from sources that belonged to those communities of citizens in foreign territory. Occasionally, these were members of the elite who showed gratitude and loyalty deriving from the privileges they had been granted. A fundamental point of particular interest is that the expansion of the civitas and the Roman model led to social and economic turbulence. At the social level, the explosive power of the spread or absence of the civitas was already a well-known factor in ancient times. Suffice to recall the intervention of emperor Claudius with the Tabula Clesiana. Citizenship remained a goal despite the fact that, on closer inspection, in addition to obvious privileges, it came with equally obvious limitations.
L. Pilar Eberle deals with one of these aspects, namely taxation of citizens in the peninsula and in the provinces. For many centuries citizens were subject to certain taxes that remained unknown to non-citizens. In particular, the author addresses a hard-to-die myth, namely that no direct taxes were levied on Roman citizens in the provinces. The question turns out to be not so simple, and one could speak of a progressive shift from direct to indirect taxation due to the evident desire not to stimulate social discontent. Citizens were exempt from tributum capitis, collected in the provinces, as evidenced by the absence of citizens in the documentation relating to these collections (in particular among the many documents from Egypt). This immunity gradually disappeared and then vanished in the second half of the second century because the tax burden was increasing after the Antonine plague. Simultaneously, the concept of society gradually changed; hence the value of the civitas lost its original distinctive trait, and other parameters prevailed to establish privileges and duties.
Lavan tackles what, in some ways, was a ‘negative’ aspect for those who owned the civitas. For example, this includes the problem of the status of children of mixed unions, exacerbated by the Lex Municia (of uncertain date), which required the parent of lower status to transfer it to the child. He then analyses the interesting case of the Junian Latins, freedmen who do not receive a regular manumissio. Thus, they were free but without the status of citizens. Children, however, were entitled to the maternal status. Also, hereditary transmission was problematic if the children were not citizens: it was impossible to include non-citizens in the will of a Roman citizen, except for the military who, from the time of Nerva and Trajan, enjoyed special permission in this regard. One can observe an emerging tendency to favour unions within the nucleus of Roman citizens in the provinces, discouraging mixed unions that would have changed the local social and economic fabric. This is a tendency to maintain blocked social groups, as evidenced by many studies on the subject.
The following contribution by R. MacLean is dedicated to the case of the Danube area. MacLean addresses all data that can be obtained from the analysis of the epigraphy of the area, including the interesting case of the identification of soldiers as well as children of soldiers born in the camps, given that the background is detectable from the indication of the origo usually accompanied by the tribal adscription to the Pollia tribe. This situation and theme perhaps deserve a more in-depth analysis.
From a literary perspective, A. Blanco-Peréz begins by evaluating the presence of citizens and pilgrims in studies on the Roman East, in particular focusing on tria nomina. The study in the literary field leads to an interesting conclusion: that the omission of the trianomic sequence both in reference to the writer and the people from the inner circle was an established practice. Blanco-Peréz points out that this choice is also of symbolic value, claiming that reaffirming origins without any need to indicate the civitas is an ennobling factor. It is without doubt an interesting cultural phenomenon.
A. Dolganov deals with the widespread opinion that it was not easy for the Romans to verify the authenticity of citizenship of individuals. In reality, analysing what we know about the mechanisms of data collection and above all of registration and conservation, combined with what can be derived from the extraordinary documentation in Egypt, we can verify that the Romans had strict control of the data. They would apply a whole range of official certificates that could be requested by the authorities. Hence, the Romans were able to keep files on each citizen updated to the extent that they could detect cases of fraud. The expansion of the empire and, consequently, the expansion of the census had pushed for even more precise and coordinated rules within Rome. In the case of a census imposed by Claudius, who is known to have dealt several times with the question of Roman citizenship, it included the request for a declaration in Latin, collected and analysed by administrative staff and then sent to Rome. Cross-checks revealed possible falsification. Then, there remained the question of disputes between the local jurisdiction and Rome, given the principle of unstable balances. This can also be observed and emerges in specific cases, as shown by G. Kantor. Although they make it difficult to assess definitively the situation, they still shed light on the condition that must have been more widespread than we could believe, particularly in the East. C. Brélaz explores the thorny issue of the spread of citizens within local communities and local elites, a diffusion that did not follow any homogeneity, as sometimes believed, but was subject to multiple factors that influenced its speed and consistency.
Ando, in the final chapter, returns to the main concept of the volume, i.e. the observation of how the positive model proposed by Sherwin-White, who did not analyse the second century, was born as a continuation of the concepts expressed by Claudius in the famous speech reported by Tacitus and on the Tabula of Lyon. This concept has gone hand in hand with the equally erroneous perception that the edict of Caracalla only concluded a process that was almost complete. Although it is true that the Romans tended to reward local allies and the exponents of the elites with the concession of civitas, it remains equally true that a large part of the population pursued a prestige, at local level, which was not related to the granting of Roman citizenship.
The reflection on the work of Sherwin-White dominates the volume. In each chapter aspects of The Roman Citizenship are addressed, and the lights and shadows are highlighted, on the basis of almost a century of new studies and research. Therefore, the new volume constitutes a reference point for studies in the field and, in particular, the important work of Sherwin-White. The task of the reviewer, however, is not only to praise the numerous merits of the volume, but also to highlight points that perhaps should have been discussed in more depth. A topic practically not touched upon concerns the problem of tribal ascription. Apart from MacLean's references to the ascription to the Pollia of the soldiers of the Danube area with an origo castris, references that could have been developed with interest towards a reflection on the choice of the tribe and the diffusion (a starting point for future research), and some reflections by Blanco-Pérez, the theme of the tribus does not appear in the volume. Proof of this is the absence in the bibliography of works still of great relevance such as T. Mommsen's Die römischen Tribus in administrativer Beziehung (1844) and W. Kubitschek's study, still quoted today although more than a century old, Imperium Romanum tributim discriptum (1889). Some of L.R. Taylor's important works appear in the bibliography, but some of G. Forni's studies are missing. All this is reflected in the volume where, as indicated above, there is no room for an in-depth reflection on the theme of tribal ascription and on the evaluation related to the spread, timing and quantity of Roman citizens in the areas in question. Although it is known that the chronological period under consideration saw progressive weakening and vanishing of the presence of data regarding tribal ascription, nevertheless there are ample remains concerning the second and third centuries. It is an established fact that the former represents one of the most incontrovertible pieces of information on the possession of citizenship (except in the case of usurpation). Nevertheless, aside from this gap, the volume provides a complete overview of issues related to the subject, and the featured contributions are precise and rich, from the point of view of both documentation and bibliography.
