The story of Rome and its people draws on ancient legends passed down from generation to generation. Circulating throughout the Mediterranean world in the centuries after Rome’s legendary founding, they were later enshrined in the words of the poets and historians of the great Augustan age and have been studied ever since.

Before it was a mighty empire, Rome was born as a Latin settlement on the Palatine Hill and from the beginning showed an inclination to integrating different peoples through a federation. The early legends, born out in fact and in Rome’s later history, offered an element of mixed ethnic identity. As Rome expanded its rule across Italy and over the world, adherence to Roman identity and values stood as the main qualifications for “becoming Roman” and enjoying all the privileges of Rome’s civilization. As migrant populations traverse today’s world, assimilation remains a crucial issue of debate in managing borders and defining societies.