"romanitas" is used to refer to the collection of political and cultural concepts and practices defining what it is to be a roman. unlike the greeks, the romans did not see their common identity as being based on language and inherited ethnicity. their identity was based on being part of a political and religious community with common values, customs, morality and way of life. in light of this, historians have sought to define "romanitas" using a number of approaches: one way is to consider the general ideals romans attributed to themselves; another approach, which has achieved consensus amongst scholars, is to consider the construction of roman identity during the process of colonization. however, not all scholars accept that the notion of identity, inherited from social sciences is adequate to understand what is to be roman.