Rome Society: Patricians Vs Plebeians

Saman Rahimi

Nadine Korte

Ancient Rome: War, Culture and Society

Rome Society: Patricians vs Plebeians

Groups of people who have a similar position with each other or ranked according to their wealth and power in the stratification method is called social class. Modern time society was always influenced from the historical society Ancient Rome. Rome was a domain country that was constructed upon its social class which social versatility was limited. Roman citizenship, richness and liberty were the three primary components that determines their social class. The social classes of Rome were separated into six different classes which were ranked in a hierarchy. However, the three main important social classes were patricians, plebeians and slaves because a large gap was created to separate them. Even though the ancient Rome is organized and separated by social classes, it’s a negative place to live in because there is no social inequality between patricians and plebeians.

Social inequality had been existed since decades as most of the ancient peoples believed that social imbalance was a reality of nature. Roman’s had created six social groups that had separated people based on their states in the society and wealth. ^[1]“This division lasted throughout Roman history. The patricians were Rome’s original aristocrats, having inherited their status by being born in one of a tiny percentage of families around 130 in total ranked as patrician; no others could achieve this status”. Patricians had more power in the society. ^[2]They helped the empire in politics, religion and military which gained them some advantages. Males in the family were educated by a tutor to learn the important subjects such as history, geography and literature. Patricians were very wealthy as they were landowners. Each family owned two houses one located in the city and the other one located in the country that was taken care by slaves. Patrician’s children had their own bedrooms with lots of toys. Slaves were children’s personal assistance to fulfill their simple task for examples carrying their books to school and bring the child whatever he needs. The females of the family had slaves to help them with their clothes, hair and other needs. For women hairstyle was very important and especially popular hair style that took longer time than normal hairstyle to create They had an easy and comfortable life compare to the other plebeians.

Plebeian were the free roman citizen who were referred to working class. Plebeian did not have much power compare to the patricians. They were normal working people of Rome who were craftsman, bakers, builders and farmers. They supported their families by their incomes and payed their expenses. ^[3]Titus and Trajan had opened different types of welfare to help the people trough hard times. When plebeians needed help then they would approach the Roman administrators. Most of the plebeians were illiterate because they could not afford education. Some plebeians tried to save enough money to get out from this class however many of the plebeians struggled to survive. They had to fight in the army and worked for the patricians in their land. ^[4]They lived in apartment house referred to “insulae”. The insulae was a crowed place where two families lived in one room. The insulae did not have bathrooms so they used a pot instead and it was thrown out through the window into the streets therefore, it was a very smelly place to live. The apartments were not safe because it was badly constructed therefore there were risk of collapse. There were no beds for Children to sleep on but if there were then it was shared with others. Most of their meals were bread, pea soup and bean because they could not afford meat or chicken. They had very bad living conditions. Plebeians went on strikes and used violence to gain more power and rights as result they were allowed to participate in politics. ^[5]The twelve tables laws were created between 452 and 450 BCE that was an agreement between the patrician and plebeians. Taking advantages from this situation the patricians created the table eleven law indicated “marriage should not take place between patricians and plebeians”. The twelve tables were created so the plebeians and other social classes would understand the laws and rights. Through the twelve table plebeians earned more power but the patrician were the leaders giving them more power.