Assimilation by the Romans

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The Assimilation of the Ancient Frontier

The Roman Empire was one of the largest and most successful civilizations to ever grace the face of this earth. They conquered and subjugated all the people around them. For centuries, Rome's borders expanded and changed, but there was always a bleeding edge, the rugged frontier. This frontier was a boiling pot of assimilation, Rome's greatest tool of expansion. Without assimilation the empire of Rome would have never reached out of Italy or conquered nearly as many people. The three most prominent catalysts to this process known as assimilation were an active military presence, the integration and settlement of Roman peoples, and the adaptation of religious practices.

The most important catalyst to assimilation was the conquerors themselves, the Roman generals. They used three tested methods to gain new territory and therefore assimilate new peoples. These were invasion, displacement, and diplomacy. Of these, invasion was the more favored option; however, there are many examples in which uncooperative peoples are simply displaced. Some examples are when Augustus moved the Thracian Getae across the Danube and when Marcus Aurelius moved the German Quadi to Pannonia. Also, many places were annexed by means of diplomacy through treaties of friendship and promise of trade. After this process was complete, the constant presence of the Roman soldiery both secured the land and made the Roman presence visible to Roman and conquered peoples alike. The military also made the people feel Roman by allowing them to enlist in the military or perhaps just hiring them as mercenaries. The use of gentile and laeti troops was accepted throughout the frontiers, although it was not necessary in the East. Many conquered peoples did enlist, as is shown by the fact that most soldiers from the Western frontier were Spanish, Gallic, Dalmatian, and North African. Enlisting not only gave these soldiers a chance to see the rest of the Empire but also gave them strong loyalties to the state. In the Eastern frontier conquered peoples did not simply enlist; they were completely assimilated. Their already Hellenized armies were just shaped into part of the Roman war machine. When the soldiers stayed on the conquered land for long enough, they eventually began gaining personal attachments to the land they had fought for. The soldiers eventually gained land, villas, and even wives. This, of course, eventually led to genetic assimilation as the two groups of people began coupling. With their switch from soldiers to landlords, they were not the only ones making a change. There were also private landowners who began furnishing their own personal soldiery to defend their land, although this did not happen until the late Empire. All of these things made the Roman military an important part of the assimilation process.

The next most important catalyst to the assimilation of conquered peoples was the Roman policy of integration and settlement. After a land was securely in Roman hands, the Romans would quickly send a large influx of Roman citizenry to settle in the new lands, sometimes even pushing other people out. So many Romans came and settled among the existing people, sharing their customs, and gaining new customs in return, that some large archeological sites are not distinguishable as that of Roman settlers or that of existing peoples. These new settlers established themselves in the existing community and then molded it to their own will to some extent. For example, there are records of some wealthy Roman settlers turning their hillside villas into almost fortress-like monstrosities, complete with turrets, walls, and all the accoutrements of siege warfare (although it is worthy of note that this practice did not occur until the late Empire). These wealthy Romans would also then hire groups of locals to act as their personal armies (as mentioned before). One example of these groups is the German oiketai. They were said to set up camp alongside the villas of their employers. Besides financial ties, many settlers, like the soldiers, also established families with the native people. This intermarriage helped integrate the land and people to the Imperial system. This also made conflicting loyalties less of a problem, therefore ensuring peace. By being taken into the Roman fold, the native people gained a great boon; they were now part of the most prosperous empire on the earth. Protection from their enemies, established roads, a high standard of living, fair and just law, and a higher chance of economic success are just a few of the benefits these people gained. Some Roman generals took even further steps by installing programs of education; teaching the young native people to read and write in Latin, to participate in the fine art of rhetoric, and about Roman law. These young people were now true Roman citizens.

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The Roman religion was affected by assimilation more than any other aspect of life. This is because if the conquered were shown that their religion was the same as the Roman religion then they would identify with the Romans, thereby making peace much more probable. In the beginning of Roman state religion, Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were the supreme triad of gods. This quickly changed as the method of assimilation became more obvious. The Romans were tolerant of new religions and adopted many new gods, all of which came from conquered cultures. This was, after all, to their benefit. It began before the Romans had even broken out of Italy. Other Italic communities quickly influenced them; new gods began to appear around the 7th century B.C.. A wider and much more significant influence, however, was that of the Greek and Middle Eastern cults from about the rd century B.C.. Old Roman deities were equated to the Greek gods and accordingly were given their attributes and myths. Important cults of worship such as that of Dionysus and Apollo were brought to Rome. In the last two centuries of the republic, religious feeling rapidly degenerated. The Roman people, needing a new and more satisfying religion, turned toward the religious mysteries and the Middle Eastern cults. The most prominent were those of the Great Mother (Cybele), Isis and Osiris, Sol, and Mithra. Old Roman worship had been controlled, impersonal, and concerned with matters of the everyday world. The new cults, which centered on the individual, promised personal salvation and blessed afterlife. This shows just how adaptable assimilation made the Roman culture; their religious practices and beliefs were changed completely in a matter of centuries.

The Roman Empire spanned centuries and conquered from sea to sea because of brilliant stratagems like assimilation. They conquered many cultures in this way. They adapted continuously because of this, eventually adopting Christianity over the old Religio Romana, which had changed dramatically in the last century. But obviously it was not enough, for eventually they did fall. Their empire crumbled into fragments and warring states. But the Romans influence upon the cultures that they touched will be felt for all time, if not simply through their presence in the language, the architecture, and the people.

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