Empire, Status, and the Law.

This article examines the universalization of Roman citizenship under Emperor Caracalla in 212 CE and its complex legal, social, and political consequences within the Roman Empire. It challenges the notion that Roman citizenship evolved as a continuous, inclusive status culminating inevitably in universal enfranchisement, highlighting instead its earlier exclusivity and use as an instrument of imperial domination. The extension of citizenship transformed political subjectivity by shifting the citizen’s role from active political agent to economic actor, while local elites and communities resisted the erosion of established social hierarchies despite the legal equality citizenship implied. The article further explores how Roman imperial governance maintained local legal and social distinctions through city-states, even after citizenship was universalized, illustrating the limits of law in overcoming entrenched systems of status and difference in a diverse empire.