The last Romans are still around

For some of us, our Roman Empire actually is the Roman Empire. As far as pre-modern states go, the Roman Empire was incredibly powerful, culturally influential, and well documented. Rome’s expansion shaped Europe, and Europe’s shaped the world. So when did the Romans stop being a thing? Definitions are as always tough, but they kind of never did. Even though the Roman state stopped functioning over 1500 years ago (or 500 years for all you Constantinople fans), the Roman identity never entirely disappeared; it just evolved. In fact, there are still pockets of people who call themselves “Roman” or some variant thereof, even today. Let’s take a look at who they are. Romanians Romanians in traditional dress Credit Mihai Maxim, CC BY Romania is a country in Eastern Europe with a name that sounds suspiciously Roman. This is no coincidence. The Romanian language, spoken in Romania and neighboring Moldova, is the Easternmost branch of the Romance Languages – the modern descendants of Latin.…