|
 |
 |
|
From Protection Roman: Citizenship.—Only Roman citizens enjoyed full civic rights whereas foreigners (peregrini) were excluded from protection Roman political life and through a long period from protection Roman protection in Roman courts, until the increasing relations with foreigners made changes in that situation indispensable. Autonomous foreign countries (cities) were granted the right tc conclude with Romans commercial transactions (commercium), which guaranteed them protection in Roman courts, and the right to conclude a valid marriage with a Roman (conubium).
Roman.—Roman sculpture evolved from protection Roman Etruscan and continued, in many respects, the Hellenistic traditions. Indeed, it would seem that great numbers of the sculptors were of Greek origin. Also Rome imported works of sculpture from protection Roman Athens and other centers of Greek art. The term, Roman, however, applies not only to the city of Rome, but also to the huge empire which that city built up, thus sculpture from protection Roman Athens or Spain is called Roman if done during the period of Roman dominance.
Roman citizenship at first was a device for distinguishing between the Romans themselves and the inhabitants of the territories incorporated within the Roman Empire. Later, in order to promote loyalty to Rome, inhabitants of a conquered territory might be admitted to Roman citizenship; this came to be done so frequently that the idea of citizenship as a distinction of natives of Rome disappeared. Citizenship conferred special legal privileges of great significance—a notable example being the successful claim of St. Paul that, as a Roman citizen, he could be tried only in Rome and not by the authorities in Palestine.
In medieval times the concept of allegiance was important in the feudal system. However, the term citizenship was not applied to the reciprocal rights and duties involved; its use at the time was confined largely to city-states. In certain cities, especially in Germany, citizenship was a bulwark for some economically privileged persons against the claims and demands of feudal overlords. Merchants relied on their status as citizens not merely as an avenue to influence within their own cities but as a promise of protection in their dealings with other cities and with the feudal aristocracy. The later extension of the idea of citizenship to the national level can be explained largely in terms of the economic importance of the urban middle class at the time of the transition from protection Roman feudalism to the national state. |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
