This course analyses the evolution of the roman boundaries both in their physical role and abstract meaning. In defining these boundaries, the course starts examining the first border of Rome, the pomerium, and its religious role. It goes on showing how boundaries were expanded by the constantly growing power of Rome, first in the Italic Peninsula, and then all over the Mediterranean Sea. The lessons will focus on specific cases, showing not only the political relevance of borders enlargement, but also their role as “builders” of social and religious identity - as also tools for excluding the population outside them. The aim of the course is to understand how these boundaries created and modified the roman identity through the centuries from the monarchy till the empire.