Niektoré aspekty migrácie a mobility v rímskom impériu vo svetle dobových literárnych a epigrafických prameňov
Some Aspects of Migration and Mobility in the Roman Empire in the Light of Contemporary Literary and Epigraphic Sources

Summary/Abstract: The theme of migration and mobility in the Roman Empire has recently captured much attention both of academic scholars and popular historians who treat the topic from different perspectives. Although the outcomes of their research are of great importance in understanding the dynamics of migration in the early Roman Empire, in this article, however, I will primarily examine how ancient Romans themselves perceived and responded to immigration during the late Republic, and in the early Empire of the first two centuries ad. In order to pursue this goal, I will base my analysis on available literary and epigraphic sources coming from Rome or the necropolis belonging to Ostia/Portus. Literary sources can help us understand who the migrants were and why they moved within the Empire, nevertheless, they tell us very little or nothing about the movement of lower classes since they focus mostly on depicting the life journey of the elite. In relation to the discussion regarding the granting of the Roman citizenship in the Republic and early Principate, the testimonies of such authors as Livy, Tacite or Dio Cassius are of great importance. Moreover, particular attention will be paid to the testimony of the Roman satyrist Juvenal who in his Satyre 3 provides us with some interesting insight into the difficulties Rome had to face in the end of the 1st century ad that were, to a lower or higher degree, connected with the influx of im¬migrants into the Roman metropolis.

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