State of Rome (Roman State) refers to Ancient Rome as a nation-state, that is, a country. As a result, a free-born person in Syria could be considered a Roman by virtue of his citizenship although he was born nowhere near the city of Rome. Furthermore, the capital of the Roman state was not always the city of Rome. For example, the capital was moved to New Rome in the later stages of the Roman Empire, and after death of emperor Theodosius I, the capital of Western half was Mediolanum, but later Ravenna.
As a state, "ancient Rome" can refer to:
References
State of Rome Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA