The Latins, sometimes known as the Latials or Latians, were an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome. From about 1000 BC, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium, that is, the area between the river Tiber and the promontory of Mount Circeo 100 km (62 mi) southeast of Rome. Following the Roman expansion, the Latins spread into the Latium adiectum, inhabited by Osco-Umbrian peoples.

The Roman people was the body of Roman citizens during the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire. Variously referred to as a cultural group, a nationality or a multi-ethnicity, the meaning of "Romans" underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of Roman civilisation as its borders expanded and contracted. In classical antiquity, from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, the Romans ruled large parts of Europe, the Near East and North Africa through conquests made during the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire. Originally only referring to the Italic Latin citizens of Rome itself, by late antiquity Roman identity evolved into a collective geopolitical identity, extended to nearly all subjects of the Roman emperors and encompassing vast regional and ethnic diversity.