{"id":131,"date":"2014-09-15T14:55:44","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T18:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/aeneid-migrations\/?p=131"},"modified":"2015-01-02T08:13:24","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T13:13:24","slug":"roman-colonizers-and-the-indigenous-italian-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/aeneid-migrations\/roman-colonizers-and-the-indigenous-italian-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Winners or Losers, Colonists or Exiles: What is Roman Identity?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>
\n<\/a>The Romans now have a reputation for dominance and ruthlessly efficient conquests but Vergil has ensured that we also see their founding father Aeneas as a defeated refugee. So, how did they see themselves? How did they imagine that indigenous Italians and others saw them when they first arrived in Italy: aggressive colonizers or pathetic exiles? Either way, they began as migrants. We can observe and explore the complex impact of migrations as they apply to the major role players in the Aeneid<\/em>. Like when Aeneas and his crew of survivors flee Troy, land in Latium, and claim their own territory. How did Aeneas and his followers’ journey as pathetic migrants early on in the Aeneid<\/em> morph into the eventual conquest of the Latins in later books? The lot of native tribes such as the Etruscans in the Aeneid<\/em> may reflect what many in Vergil\u2019s time experienced – displacement from their homelands. A look at broad patterns within the overarching theme of migration will shed light not only on Vergil\u2019s Aeneid<\/em> but more importantly on the complex nature of Roman identity.<\/p>\n

Romans as Imperialist Colonizers<\/h3>\n

Defining what it means to be Roman\u00a0to a Roman<\/h4>\n

\"Flag<\/a>Before we look at how Vergil imagines the indigenous response to the destructive nature of the Trojan founders of the Roman race, it is important to consider what Romans thought of themselves. In other words, what did it mean to be Roman? Status and a reputation for moral virtue were everything to the Romans. It was highly encouraged for Roman citizens to embrace the <\/a>

mos maiorum<\/em>\" data-anchor=\"#tippy_tip0_8190_anchor\" > custom of the ancestors <\/div>\u00a0and to aspire to be an <\/a>
exemplum<\/em>\" data-anchor=\"#tippy_tip1_6433_anchor\" > a role model, something or someone to emulate <\/div>.<\/a>
Bell, Role Models in the Roman World: Identity and Assimilation<\/em>, 2. <\/div><\/sup>\u00a0This was not an easy task achieved overnight. Embodying this Roman ideal\u00a0would take a lifetime. They wanted to adopt the virtues associated with the past, live by those ideals in the present, and leave a moral legacy for the future. More specifically,\u00a0“a Roman individual was one who universally acted as a Roman or did Roman things; a single act of allegiance to Rome could not be sufficient to establish an individual as a “true” Roman”, that is one who exercised full rights in Roman politics and was accepted by some of the most prominent families in Rome.<\/a>
Arno, How Romans Became Roman: Creating Identity in an Expanding World<\/em>, 61-62 <\/div><\/sup>\u00a0According to Cicero and other members of the elite, key characteristics in defining what it meant to be Roman included but were not limited to:<\/p>\n