Who are the direct descendants of the Romans? Is it the Italians or the Romanians?

Answer 1

The Italians, hence Rome--Romans.

Answer 2

The Italian people descend from different ethnic stocks such as the Etruscans, Romans, Greeks, Gauls, Germanic invaders, Normans, French and Catalans who all colonised, invaded or plundered Italy for more than 3,000 years. They can claim direct lineage from the romans (in a very strict sense of the word).

On the other hand, the Roman empire gave citizenship to all (slaves excluded) to all the people within the empire in 106 A.D.. Therefore in the Romanian case, once the Romans conquered Dacia (ancient name for modern Romania) in 106, a process of romanization of the Dacians possibly took place by an extensive colonisation of the area. with colonists from different provinces of the Roman empire. They had no common language except for Latin. In this multiethnic environment, Latin, being the only common language of communication, quickly become the dominant language.(*1). It is a (unproven) theory where Romanians are also the descendants of roman colonists.

In both cases, neither can claim «pure Roman blood» & both are at best «muggles». Italians are the senior blood line with better kept records while Romanians are likely the junior but the documentation is scarce and debatable.

Answer 3

Though Rome today is in Italy, the Roman Empire was huge at it's peak, and extended as far east as Istanbul, Turkey (once known as Constantinople, after the Roman emperor Constantine). After the fall of the Western Roman empire, many Romans in Italy & other parts of the empire (except for the eastern empire, which lasted for almost 1000 more years) moved away, married off to people from other lands, therefore, it's very hard to determine the direct descendents of the Romans.

Answer 4

Genetically, we're ALL intermixed. Well anyone of European descent anyway. This is the main reason Hitler's idea of a "pure race" was BS. Anyway, speaking ethnically, the original Romans came from south-central Italy. Romanians are ethnically related to Slavs. Linguistically, though, modern Romanian is derived from Latin, as is Italian, Spanish and French. (English has some Latin roots, but these were imposed in the 14th Century or so. It's really Germanic.) These "vulgate" languages were corruptions of classical Latin, also mixed with local tribal languages. "Vulgate" literally means "common" and is the root of the English word vulgar.

Answer 5

It's tough to nail down just 1 country that descend from Rome. Most of Europe and a great deal of Asia Minor descend from the Roman empire. Romania was originally called Dalatia until the Roman army finally defeated the various armies that guarded it. Most of Western culture has some tie to the Roman empire.

Answer 6

Can't really say who's a direct descendant because the Roman Empire spread throughout all of Europe, but the closest may be the Italians.

Answer 7

the Romanians are the descendants of the Dacians. the Italians would be the Roman descendants you speak of but some Italians have Greek &/or Albanian ancestors, especially those from Southern Italy. not all Italians have the same background.

Answer 8

Biologically, most people whose ancestry were from parts of Europe that were part of the Roman Empire would have some Roman ancestry.

Culturally speaking, all of Western Civilisation is the direct result of the Roman Empire.

Answer 9

No one is "direct." The Germanic tribes that took control of places like Italy or Spain altered their genetic make-up. Furthermore, the ethnic composition of the pre-Roman people remained even after the Roman era.

Answer 10

"Roman" was not exactly ethnicity. Most people in the empire could potentially become a citizen, and therefore a Roman. Believe me when I say the empire encompassed multiple ethnicities.