The Social Structure
Rome divided it's people into two categories- citizens and non-citizens. Non-citizens were the slaves and those who were born in the provinces. Citizens were further divided into more categories. The highest was the emperor. Next were the patricians, meaning 'fathers,' who were the equivalent of nobles. Next were the equestrians, or the riders. They were called this because in the time of war, they were given a horse to ride. Penultimate were the plebeians, or common folk, and the freedmen, also known as liberti. The freedmen were slaves who had been manumitted, or freed by their owner, and for the most part they enjoyed the same legal rights and protections as free-born citizens.
Social class in ancient Rome was hierarchical- a system of people ranked one above another- but there were many overlapping social hierarchies, and an individual's relative position in one might be higher or lower than in another. The status of freeborn Romans during the Republic was established by:
There were also classes of non-citizens with different legal rights. The slaves weren't considered as human, and were treated as the property of their owners. |