Patrician, Patrician - List of Patricii, Patrician - Modern usage, Patrician - Patrician caste, Patrician - Patrician position, Patrician - Use in fiction, Patricanships
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 ...
In the satirical fantasy series Discworld by British author Terry Pratchett, the city of Ankh-Morpork is run by a Presidential like figure akin to the old roman nobility. The ruler rules under the title of Patrician but is in all respects simply a tyrant. In the City Watch (see Guards! Guards!) series of novels the Patrician is named Havelock Vetinari and though he often puts up a democratic facade he is to all intents and purposes a ...
Under the Roman Empire, patrician status as it had been understood in the Republic ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The emperor Constantine reintroduced the term; Patrician (Patricius) became an honorific title for those who demonstrated faithful service to the Empire. There were generally only a few patricians in the Empire at any given time, and sometimes only one. By the fifth century in the West, the title generally denoted a man who held the power behind the imperial throne, usually a general of the Roman army. Pat ...
