Summary

In 212 CE, the emperor Caracalla gave citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman empire. It was revolutionary and removed the legal difference between the rulers and the ruled, thus completing what Romulus had done when granting citizenship to newcomers when founding Rome. Beard chooses to end her history here, at the end of the first Roman millennium.

Many other changes occurred around this time that would characterize the second Roman millennium including a different religion and an end to the Augustinian model of imperial rule. This model of rule began to deteriorate in the third century CE and Rome was eclipsed as the center of power as emperors began to spend time elsewhere with their armies. This also hastened the decline of the senate as emperors ruled by degree from elsewhere. The various causes behind these changes are debated...