Types of Roman towns and cities

thumb|260px|Templeborough Roman fort in [[South Yorkshire visualised 3D flythrough, produced for Rotherham Museums and Archives]]

In ancient Rome, the Latin term '''''' (: ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ('duty holders'), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges and protections of citizenship. Every citizen was a .

In Ancient Rome, the Latin term ' (plural ') designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 . Each had its own board of officials who oversaw local matters. These administrative divisions are recorded as still in effect at least until the mid-4th century.

thumb|300px|A Roman military diploma, or certificate of successful military service, granting citizenship to a retiring soldier and the dependents he had with him at the time. The key phrase is "est civitas eis data" where means "citizenship".

A ' (plural ') was the Latin term for a hut or hovel and was later (from the time of Hadrian) used typically to mean a town that emerged as a civilian settlement () in the vicinity of a Roman legionary fortress ().

Noviodunum is a name of Celtic origin, meaning "new fort": It comes from nowyo, Celtic for "new", and dun, the Celtic for "hillfort" or "fortified settlement", cognate of English town.

thumb|right|Roman-era Roman provincial currency|civic coin of [[Ephesus, showing a bust of Emperor Elagabalus and priding itself of being "alone of all, four times " ()]] ' (), plural ' (), was a sacral office in Ancient Greece associated with the custody of a temple. Under the Roman Empire, the neocorate became a distinction awarded to cities that had built temples to the emperors or had established cults of members of the Imperial family.

tributary state/community of Rome

autonomous community bound to the Roman Empire by formal treaty