A civitas foederata, meaning "allied state/community", was the most elevated type of autonomous cities and local communities under Roman rule.
Each Roman province comprised a number of communities of different status. Alongside Roman colonies or municipia, whose residents held the Roman citizenship or Latin citizenship, a province was largely formed by self-governing communities of natives ( peregrini), which were distinguished according to the level of autonomy they had: the lowest were the civitates stipendariae ("tributary states"), followed by the civitates liberae ("free states"), which had been granted specific privileges. [1] [2]
Unlike the latter, the civitates foederatae were individually bound to Rome by formal treaty ( foedus). Although they remained formally independent, the civitates foederatae in effect surrendered their foreign relation to Rome, to which they were bound by perpetual alliance. [3] Nevertheless, the citizens of these cities enjoyed certain rights under Roman law, like the commercium and the conubium. [4] In the Greek East, many of the Greek city-states ( poleis) were formally liberated and granted some form of formal guarantee of their autonomy. As they had a long history and tradition of their own, most of these communities were content with this status, unlike in the Latin West, where, with their progressive Romanization, many communities sought a gradual advancement to the status of a municipium or even a colonia. [1]
References
- ^ a b Eilers 2010, p. 274.
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, p. 210 (note 2).
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, pp. 198 (note 22), 210 (note 2).
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, p. 198 (note 22).
Sources
- Eilers, Claude (2010). "Local Government, Roman". In Gagarin, Michael (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford University Press. pp. 273–275. ISBN 9780195170726.
- Mousourakis, George (2007). A Legal History of Rome. Routledge. ISBN 9780415408936.
.
A civitas foederata, meaning "allied state/community", was the most elevated type of autonomous cities and local communities under Roman rule.
Each Roman province comprised a number of communities of different status. Alongside Roman colonies or municipia, whose residents held the Roman citizenship or Latin citizenship, a province was largely formed by self-governing communities of natives ( peregrini), which were distinguished according to the level of autonomy they had: the lowest were the civitates stipendariae ("tributary states"), followed by the civitates liberae ("free states"), which had been granted specific privileges. [1] [2]
Unlike the latter, the civitates foederatae were individually bound to Rome by formal treaty ( foedus). Although they remained formally independent, the civitates foederatae in effect surrendered their foreign relation to Rome, to which they were bound by perpetual alliance. [3] Nevertheless, the citizens of these cities enjoyed certain rights under Roman law, like the commercium and the conubium. [4] In the Greek East, many of the Greek city-states ( poleis) were formally liberated and granted some form of formal guarantee of their autonomy. As they had a long history and tradition of their own, most of these communities were content with this status, unlike in the Latin West, where, with their progressive Romanization, many communities sought a gradual advancement to the status of a municipium or even a colonia. [1]
References
- ^ a b Eilers 2010, p. 274.
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, p. 210 (note 2).
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, pp. 198 (note 22), 210 (note 2).
- ^ Mousourakis 2007, p. 198 (note 22).
Sources
- Eilers, Claude (2010). "Local Government, Roman". In Gagarin, Michael (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford University Press. pp. 273–275. ISBN 9780195170726.
- Mousourakis, George (2007). A Legal History of Rome. Routledge. ISBN 9780415408936.
.