Who is the successor to the Rome today?

Who has the best claim to being the successor to Rome?

  • The United States

    Votes: 24 44.4%
  • The European Union

    Votes: 4 7.4%
  • Russia

    Votes: 4 7.4%
  • Italy

    Votes: 8 14.8%
  • Other

    Votes: 14 25.9%

  • Total voters
    54

Bulldoggus

Banned
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If we're talking truly legitimate, legal heirs, then there is only one logical choice.
Don't be silly, everyone knows Finland doesn't really exist.
 
The Republic of Turkey, as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, as the successor state of the [Eastern] Roman Empire.

But seriously, it's not a relevant title any more.
 
I did say descendants as well.
We are getting into more controversial territory, but genetic testing has shown that the Turkish average genome does cluster close to Southern European groups.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_studies_on_Turkish_people

Autosomal studies with recent methodology estimate the Central Asian contribution in Turkish people at only 13-15%, so indeed the bulk of the modern population of Turkey is descended to an important degree from the original Byzantine population, they just don't identify as such.

A country losing territory or moving a capital doesn't turn it into another country. Similarly, simply owning Rome doesn't mean much to actually being the Roman state, especially since Rome the city had long been in decline and wasn't even the center of power in the West by the end. No one claims modern Italy is the Roman state just because it controls the city.

As for religion, language, culture, and customs, the Rome of 500 BC and the Rome of 100 AD was drastically different in nearly all those areas and more, but there's no doubt that they are both still the same government over different time periods. Every single civilization and state changes over time, especially Rome since it is the longest lasting state in human history. This is probably starting to veer away from the point of the thread, however, and would be better fit for the pre-1900 forum.

Just curious, to what extent had the modern Romans (as in residents of the city) been descended from Residents of Ancient Rome?

After the empire fell, Rome once went down to as low as 20,000 people, and expanded again into a metropolis of millions after Risorgimento, presumably due largely to immigration. Was there any chance that the immigrants happened to be descended from ones who moved out when the city was in the sixth century?
 
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