On The Nature of the Romulean Tribes

Abstract:It is generally held that the Romulean tribes were connected somehow with gentes and that membership of them depended on birth. Servius Tullius subsequently created an entirely different system of tribes, one based instead on residence, with the result that Roman citizenship could now be granted to others. Although this is the orthodox view of the Romulean tribes, it is not only based on hardly any evidence, but it actually requires that most of the evidence there is must be discarded. This paper reassesses the evidence for the Romulean tribes. It would appear that it ultimately derives from M. Terentius Varro’s reconstruction of Romulus’ Rome. As such, it sheds no light on archaic times.