The ancestry of many modern peoples can be traced back to the Romans. Some even call themselves "Romans", Romans. This is the self-name of the European Gypsies, for example. Romanians call themselves Romans and live on territory that was once the province of Dacia in Rome. And the Swiss Romanches. In addition, a large group of people (including Puerto Ricans) is called "romantic". So, are they all descendants of the ancient Romans?
Modern Romanian girl
As for the Romans, they are called so only because the language they speak is of Roman origin, that is, Latin. The Romanians were originally a Slavic tribe of the Flach people. They lived in Wallachia, which Dacia settled in the 13th century. Byzantine writers mentioned the Gypsies in the 11th century, who came from Persia and had roamed somewhere in India before that. There is no doubt that these two peoples have lived in Byzantium for centuries. Perhaps their ancestors had a certain percentage of Roman ancestry.
Byzantium in ancient times. Paintings by contemporary artists
There is even more reason to think that you are of Roman descent among modern Greeks. Their ancestors, even before the founding of Rome, inhabited the policies of southern Italy. Then the whole of Greece became a province of Rome, and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Byzantium was considered its successor. That is, the capital of the Roman Empire moved to the Balkans. The majority of the Byzantine population was of mixed Greek and Roman colonial descent.
Romantic people. Modern Switzerland
As for the Romanchi, they certainly also lived in the Roman Empire. Like the Gauls, the British, the Saxons and some Germans. The roman provinces were Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, the Balkans, and Judea— modern Israel. The Roman garrison was located on their land, inhabited by Roman colonists. The representatives of all these peoples became slaves of the Romans, and then some of these slaves became free men, and their children became full Roman citizens. In 212 AD. The Emperor caracalla equated the inhabitants of the empire with his decrees, and from that moment on they were all officially regarded as Romans.
Etruscan pottery pots. 3rd century BC.
The word "Roman" originally did not refer to any particular people or peoples, but to the sum of the many peoples living in Rome. From the very beginning of its existence, Etruscans and Sabines also lived in the city, except for the Latins (from whom the legendary Romulus and Remus came). Then all the other Italian, Greek, and Gallic tribes living on the southern slopes of the Alps joined the Roman population.
Septimius Severus, c. III. ad
The ancient Romans themselves considered the main signs that belonged to their people were not origins, but Knowledge of Latin, and observance of Roman customs and laws. Roman emperors were Illyrians, Syrians, and even Phoenicians, such as Septimius Severus. The "last Roman" Flavius Aetius was not born in Italy, but in Dourostolum (modern-day Cilistra) in the province of Nizhny Mosia on the Danube. His father was a native of Goldenius, who served in the Roman army.
Genetic studies of the Roman population at different times
In 2019, scientists studied the genetic material of Roman tombs from various eras and concluded that the inhabitants of Rome were diverse across all eras. Of the 48 Roman citizens who lived during the Roman Empire, 2 belonged to Western Europeans and 31 were close to the people living on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The 13 genomes turned out to be the Middle East, and the remaining 2 were North Africa. Scientists who comment on this fact point out that Rome is similar to modern-day New York, where you can meet people from anywhere in the world.
Portuguese folk festivals
Of course, the population of modern Italy is also descendants of the Romans, but there are a large number of Nordic peoples. After all, the peninsula experienced several barbarian invasions in the 5th century and later, and then it was part of a kingdom in which the nobles were aliens: ostrogoths and Lombards. In addition, in today's Greece and France, there must also be descendants of the Romans. The closest genetics to the ancient Romans are the inhabitants of southeastern Spain and Portugal, where the Romans lived for nearly a thousand years