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Constitutio Antoniniana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Constitutio Antoniniana (Latin: "Constitution [or Edict] of Antoninus") was an edict issued in 212, by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known as Caracalla. The law declared that all free-born men in the Roman Empire were to be given full Roman citizenship and all free-born women in Empire were given the same rights as Roman women were.
Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italia held full Roman citizenship. Colonies of Romans established in other provinces, Romans (or their descendants) living in provinces, the inhabitants of various cities throughout the Empire, and small numbers of local nobles (such as kings of client countries) held full citizenship also. Whereas, at most, the majority of provincials merely held limited Roman citizenship rights (if that at all).
The reasons Caracalla passed this law were mainly to increase the number of people available to tax and to serve in the legions, as only full citizens could serve as legionaries in the Roman Army. This, however, came at the cost to the auxiliaries, which primarily consisted of non-citizen men.