Social class in ancient Rome: Encyclopedia II - Social class in ancient Rome - Patricians

Social class in ancient Rome - Patricians

The patrician class was considered the backbone of Roman society. Contemporary politicians and writers (Coriolanus, for example) in the Kingdom and early Republic thought of plebeians as rabble barely capable of sentient thought. Consequently, all important political and military positions were held by patricians. From the beginning, however, senators and knights were relegated to different spheres of action. Members of the senatorial class were the only Romans eligible to hold most public offices for the bulk of the early Republic, and therefore had to be able to afford the costs of electioneering and entertaining which were necessary to be elected. Members of the equestrian class were so named because originally they could afford a war horse and armor. In the later Republic the qualifications were changed so that senators were required to own property or hold capital valued at 1,000,000 sesterces or greater, while knights had to own property or hold cash totalling at least 400,000 sesterces in value.

The patrician class was originally closed to new members. Only descendants of patricians could claim patrician status, and intermarriage with other orders was strictly forbidden. In 297 BC, a major revolt by the plebeians forced the Senate to legalize intermarriage between classes of citizens and to extend the powers of the tribunes (see below).

The status of patricians, although never immaterial, became less important during the Later Republic and into the Principate and Empire. Some patricians (notably a member of the Claudian family and an ancestor of the Emperor Claudius) petitioned to be assigned plebeian status, partly in order to run for the position of tribune but also partly to lessen the patrician tax burden. Rome's growing economic power as a trading nation left many patrician families behind; those that could not adjust to the new commercial realities of Roman society often found themselves in the embarrassing position of having to marry their daughters to wealthier plebeians or even freedmen.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Patricians", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki