engleski

Legal position of the peregrini dediticii compared to contemporary refugees

Peregrini dediticii, as former slaves and conquered people who had lost almost all civil rights as the result of a deditio, represented a noticeable group of inhabitants of the Roman Empire. Even though dediticii were libertini – free citizens, they were perceived as a threat to the society and as such were in the worst position of all free citizens of Roman Empire. Traces of the discrimination towards this category of inhabitants can be seen in the Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate from the 212 AD issued by Emperor Caracalla, by which all free men in the Roman Empire were given the Roman citizenship except dediticii. This strongly suggests that their status was poor and undesirable, and that there was no political will to assimilate them. Dediticii can be compared to contemporary migrants coming to the EU in the last few years, notably to refugees, who left their countries because of the persecution, war or violence. Such people are also experiencing the discrimination and problems with the legal status, especially in the process of moving through passing countries (e.g. Croatia) towards their goals. By analyzing similarities and differences between the dediticii and Romans related to the status, identity and its connection to the citizenship and inclusion, this research will give the answer to the question how the Roman nation dealt with involuntary migrants (the migration in the sense of losing the status - deditio). In the second part of the paper author will compare results with contemporary solutions to the rising problem of refugees and economic migrants in the EU (with the special emphasis on the Croatia).

Peregrini dediticii ; Constitutio Antoniniana de Civitate ; migrants

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