What were other major cities in Ancient Rome? I get the impression that basically in Ancient Rome there was only one city and that was the city of Rome, everything else was its backyard so to speak. Weren't there other influencial cities which could have rivaled Rome at least in some regard?
I'm especially interested in the cities during the time of the Republic. IIRC there were two further major cities, Alexandria and Constantinople, but these only became major cities during the Roman Empire (or in the case of Alexandria it was only since the Empire under Roman rule), IIRC again.
Also, bonus question. Were only the citizens of Rome considered Roman? What with cities around Rome, in today's Latium or Italy in general? Did they only become Romans after a certain person (whose name I forgot) did a reform so that all free citizens of the Roman Republic/Empire became Romans?
Thx in advance
There were a great many large cities in the Roman Empire, the largest of course being Rome, followed by Alexandria and Antioch. Other large cities included Carthage (refounded in the Late Republic after it was destroyed in 146 BC) Smyrna, Ephesus, Corinth, Capua, Nicomedia, Memphis, Damascus, Athens, Pergamum, Mytilene and many others. These cities had long and proud reputations, quite a few being older than Rome itself and/or past capitals of great empires (Athens, Antioch, Pergamum, Carthage), and had populations of tens of thousands.
As for whether or not only the inhabitants of the city of Rome were considered Roman, no, that is not the case. From quite early in the Republic those who lived in Latin territories that were subservient to Rome but were not from Rome had a sort of half-citizenship, and by the Late Republic the franchise had been extended to all Italians, so being 'Roman' could mean you were a citizen from any number of places in Italy: it had nothing to do with being from the city itself. The reform you are thinking of is the Edict of Caracalla in 212, making all free males in the Empire into citizens. However, those living in major cities within Italy itself, such as Capua, Tarentum, Naples, Beneventum, Neapolis, Taranto, Praeneste, etc, had been citizens for several hundred years by that point.