Patrician: Encyclopedia II - Patrician - Patrician caste

Patrician - Patrician caste

In the early days of the Roman Republic, patricians formed a hereditary ruling group within the state. The patricians claimed to be able to trace their family to the original populous of Rome before the reign of Ancus Marcius and strong ties to the earliest members of Roman Senate. All magistracies were off-limits to non-patricians, who were known as plebeians. Patrician status was inherited, and intermarriage between patricians and plebeians was forbidden. Trade between patricians and plebeians was also forbidden.

Over time, conflict raged between the two classes, and patricians were slowly forced to relinquish their power. In 494 BC, the office of tribune was created to safeguard the interests of plebeians; no patrician could hold this office. By the 320s BC, all magistracies were open to plebeian candidates, and the importance of the distinction between patricians and plebeians began to fade. In addition, because patrician status was strictly inherited and no new patrician families were created, the number of patrician families decreased.

By the last days of the Roman Republic in the first century BC, wealthy plebeian families had long become an integral part of the Roman elite, and patrician status offered little more than prestige. This reality was made clear in 59 BC, when the patrician Publius Clodius Pulcher arranged to be adopted by a plebeian (who was a year younger than he!) so that he could stand for the office of tribune. One of the few positions that remained reserved to patricians at this time was the office of Rex Sacrorum, king of sacred rites, who was theoretically the highest ranking priest, responsible for carrying on the religious duties of the early kings of Rome. In practice, his authority was superceded by that of the Pontifex Maximus, who was not necessarily a Patrician.

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