The status of citizen was increasingly the right of the majority in the Roman empire and brought important privileges and exemption from certain forms of punishment. However, not all Roman citizens were equal; for example bastards, freed persons, women, the physically and mentally handicapped, under-25s, ex-criminals and soldiers were subject to restrictions and curtailments on their capacity to act. Being a Roman Citizen examines these forms of limitation and discrimination and thereby throws into sharper focus Roman conceptions of citizenship and society.

With the help of a wide variety of source material, particularly legal documents and inscriptions, some of it made available for the first time in English, this book illustrates the activities associated with the household, demonstrating the different and frequently conflicting roles and moral values expected from its various members: male and female, old and young, freedman and slave.