Romanité

Romanité is a term used in French historiography and cultural studies to denote the perceived essence or enduring influence of Roman civilization on Western civilization. It refers to how Roman political forms, legal concepts, administrative practices, urban planning, architectural styles, language (Latin), and religious transformation have been interpreted as a continuous civilizational model that shaped later societies.

The concept encompasses several interrelated dimensions. Legal traditions and citizen frameworks derived from Rome are often cited as foundational to Western law and governance. Roman administrative practices, road networks, urban layouts, and monumental architecture are considered lasting elements of Roman impact. The spread of Latin, the development of Christianization under imperial and post-imperial states, and the imagery of empire are also included in Romanité. Together, these aspects are seen as producing a shared cultural and civilizational inheritance that transcends the political collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

Historically, Romanité has been deployed to articulate national and civilizational identities, linking modern societies to Rome as a source of order, law, and moral authority. In some periods and contexts, it was used to legitimize certain political projects or colonial discourses by presenting Rome as a universal model. Critics argue that the concept can overemphasize continuity, gloss differences, or serve ethnocentric or imperial agendas. In contemporary scholarship, Romanité is used with caution, often as a framework for comparing imperial legacies and studying how Rome’s image influences modern self-understanding.