If I had Southern Italians or Sicilian (or both) ancestors, do they in any way descend from Romans? Of course, I would have some Italian (non-Roman), perhaps Phoenician, some other stuff, but would ANY of my personal ancestors be Roman? Or, were Romans so thoroughly dispersed finally that some modern Italians have absolutely no Roman ancestor?

>If I had Southern Italians or Sicilian (or both) ancestors, do they in >any way descend from Romans? Of course, I would have some Italian >(non-Roman), perhaps Phoenician, some other stuff, but would ANY of my >personal ancestors be Roman? Or, were Romans so thoroughly dispersed >finally that some modern Italians have absolutely no Roman ancestor? Although the Romans did plant colonies in southern Italy and several prominent Roman families maintained estates there (especially in Campania), it would be impossible at this point in time to claim definite ancestry from the Romans. You also have to consider that the term "Roman" changed over time as well. While it originally referred to those actually native to the city of Rome itself, Roman citizenship was gradually expanded to encompass the entire free population of the empire, including the whole of Italy and Sicily. Using this expanded definition of "Roman" then I would feel safer in claiming Roman ancestry. Said ancestors may never have set foot in Rome itself, and may indeed have been of Greek, Syrian or other background but they would have been "legally" Roman. Another difficulty for claiming ancestry would have been the terrible disasters that befell southern Italy and Sicily after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th Century AD. Thanks to famine and plague, invasions, piratic raids, natural disasters, etc. large areas of southern Italy and Sicily were depopulated. Whatever ?Roman? element of the population survived would have eventually blended with later arrivals including Greeks, Saracens, Lombards and others. Still, it is not entirely impossible that some "Roman" or even ancient Greek DNA may possibly be floating around in you. A few years ago, geneticists developed a theory that the populations of several villages and towns in the Cilento area of Campania were essentially still largely ancient Greeks thanks to their relative isolation from the rest of Italy. This, however, would morely be the exception for southern Italians rather than the rule. So, in answer to your question about "Roman" descent for southern Italians and Sicilians, it is definitely "Maybe." hesperius@aol.com Robert Rizzolo