Disputatio:Gens

Imago

Does the image show what the Romans understood by "gentes"? What is a tribus? Is a "gens" an ethinc group? --Roland (disp.) 12:08, 27 Octobris 2006 (UTC)

Gens and tribus are different concepts: a gens was a 'house', a clan of families "united together by a common name and certain religious rites" (says my dictionary); a tribus, as its name conveniently indicates, was originally one-third of the Roman people, so grouped for political purposes. Tacitus used gentes (pl.) to mean 'non-Roman people, foreigners'; the Vulgate uses it to mean '(foreign) nations'. IacobusAmor 13:14, 27 Octobris 2006 (UTC)