Socii

Common card · No. 381584

The socii (English: SOH-shee-eye) or foederati (English: FED-ə-RAY-ty) were protectorates of Rome and the citizens thereof; they formed one of the three types of civic community in Roman Italy (Italia) along with the core Roman citizens (Cives Romani) and the extended Latini. The Latini, who were simultaneously special confederates (Socii Latini) and semi-citizens (Cives Latini), derived their name from the Italic people of which Rome was part (the Latins) but did not coincide with the region of Latium in central Italy as they were located in colonies throughout the peninsula. This tripartite organisation lasted from the Roman expansion in Italy (509–264 BC) to the Social War (91–87 BC), when all peninsular inhabitants south of the Po river were awarded Roman citizenship. Treaties known as foedera served as the basic template for Rome's settlement with the large array of tribes and city-states of the whole Italian Peninsula. The confederacy had its origin in the foedus Cassianum ("Treaty...

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