Abstract: (From Privilege to Universality: The Crisis of Citizenship in the Roman Empire and the Reform of the Edict of Caracalla) The paper explores the journey from a society in which citizenship was an exclusive privilege to a society in which citizenship became a universal right, but also a source of conflicts and reassessments of the citizen's status in the context of political and social changes in the Roman Empire. In the Roman context, citizenship was initially a privilege granted to certain social classes, cities or selected groups, often with special benefits such as legal protection, tax rights or participation in certain functions. This meant that only a small part of the population had full rights, while the rest of the inhabitants were subject to limited rights. The reforms of the time of Emperor Caracalla, especially the Edict of 212 AD, marked a radical change, extending the right of citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Thus, citizenship was no longer an exclusive privilege, but became a universal notion, applicable to all citizens, contributing to the consolidation of imperial unity and identity. The disputes and tensions generated by this universality represented a crisis in the meaning and attributions of citizenship within the Empire. The reform of the Edict of Caracalla in 212 A D, also known as the Constitutio Antoniniana, represented a crucial moment, as it granted Roman citizenship to all free provincials. Thus, the process of inclusion was not only an administrative measure, but also a step towards the creation of a common civic identity, promoting the unity and cohesion of the Empire.