Introduction

This chapter offers a synoptic perspective on the significance of Roman citizenship in the long century between the Flavians and the Constitutio Antoniniana. It opens with a discussion of personal and collective statuses in Roman public law and the question of the number and distribution of Romans. It proceeds to survey the different ways in which Roman citizenship was experienced in the second century: the juridical and fiscal effects of legal difference; the effects of Roman law on the behavior of Romans in the family sphere; the links between citizenship and cult; a variety of other practices often entailed by possession of Roman citizenship, including distinctive civic rituals and the use of a distinctive onomastic form; and the complex relationship between citizenship and belonging.