THE CONCEPT OF ROMANITAS THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT ROME

The definition of Romanitas is a broader concept that embraces "what does it mean to be Roman".Because the history of ancient Rome is divided in three major periods, I would say that the idea of Romanitas was seen differently throughout these ages of the Roman history. For example, the idea of Romanitas in the monarchic period could not exist because Romans began to believe in their political and military capacities at the time of the expulsion of the Tarquins in 509 BCE.Moreover,in the republican period, being Roman would have meant, for the patricians being respectful of the family traditions exemplified in the Mores Maiorum; on the other hand, being Roman for a plebeian would have meant the hard work to get from the Res Publica a share in the government and participation in the political rights. During the empire, Romanitas signified more " being as close as possible to the emperor and to his values" as the new achieved status of the liberti shows through their tombs and releifs in the Roman art. Being Roman in that period would have been meant something like the American expression " Being smart and make money to achieve a good social status".In its early history of the US the founding fathers of the constitution identified themselves into the ideals of the republican Rome, where the soldiers were not a professional category and fought for their land.A real example of Romanitas is indeed George Washingtom who left his fields in Virgina, to fight for the independence from England and returned back to his farm after the second term of his presidency.The only difference I can see between the Americans of the Enlightenment and the Romans of the republican period is the religious component of the "Romanitas" in Rome, that implied that Roman religion was a state religion carrier of civic responsibilities of the pater familias,whereas the American Romanitas, had in the founding fathers a different relationship with God that was inherited by the practices of the Protestant Puritans.