[German version]

A. Community

Civitas is the totality of the cives, just as societas is that of the socii. Its meaning is largely synonymous with  populus , but it was rarely used by the Romans for their own state (instead: populus Romanus) but instead was the official expression for all non-Roman communities, tribes and Greek poleis with republican constitutions. A people of the state is the characteristic of a civis, almost always a defined territory with a certain  autonomy (suis legibus uti) and mostly an urban centre.

Classification w…