Page "Citizenship" Paragraph 11

In the Roman Empire, citizenship expanded from small scale communities to the entire empire.

Romans realised that granting citizenship to people from all over the empire legitimized Roman rule over conquered areas.

Roman citizenship was no longer a status of political agency ; it had been reduced to a judicial safeguard and the expression of rule and law.

Rome carried forth Greek ideas of citizenship such as the principles of equality under the law, civic participation in government, and notions that " no one citizen should have too much power for too long ",.

but Rome offered relatively generous terms to its captives, including chances for lesser forms of citizenship.

If Greek citizenship was an " emancipation from the world of things ", the Roman sense increasingly reflected the fact that citizens could act upon material things as well as other citizens, in the sense of buying or selling property, possessions, titles, goods.

One historian explained: