About this episode
This episode explores how citizenship was utilized in ancient Rome as a means of power and identity formation.
From Romulus’s open-city policy to Claudius’s reforms, citizenship was used by Rome as both a reward and a weapon. As this Long Read written by Shushma Malik explains, it enabled the burgeoning empire to build power and define identity. Today's feature originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
People in this episode
Host: History Extra
Topics covered
- Roman citizenship
- power dynamics
- identity in Rome
- historical reforms
- empire building
Keywords
- Rome
- citizenship
- power
- identity
- Shushma Malik
- history
- reforms
- empire
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: RNIB, HistoryExtra
Books & works: HistoryExtra magazine
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