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Aristocracy (class)
Aristocrats is a broad term that usually refers to people that a particular social order considered the highest social class of that society. Specifically, in many states, the aristocracy are a class of people (''aristocrats'') who typically possess a hereditary rank and specifically titles. In some societies—such as Ancient Greece, Rome, and India—aristocratic status may derive from membership of a military caste, although it has also been very common for aristocrats to belong to priestly dynasties in lieu of this, as is the case in polities all over the continent of Africa. Aristocratic status can involve feudal or legal privileges.〔''The aristocrats: a portrait of Britain's nobility and their way of life today'', by Roy Perrott, (London 1968), page5-10〕 They are usually below only the monarch of a country or nation in its social hierarchy. In modern era European societies, the term aristocracy has often been used synonymously with the nobility, a specific class that arose in the middle ages, but the term aristocracy is sometimes also applied to other elites, and is used as a more generic term in reference to earlier and non-European societies.
The term ''aristocracy'' derives from the Greek ἀριστοκρατία (''aristokratia'' ἄριστος (''aristos'') "excellent," and κράτος (''kratos'') "power".〔''The Oxford Companion to British History'', John Cannon (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 978-0-19-866176-4〕 In most cases, aristocratic titles were and are hereditary.
==Etymology==
The term "aristocracy" (Greek: ἀριστοκρατία) was first used in Athens with reference to young citizens (the men of the ruling class) who led armies at the front line. Due to martial bravery being highly regarded as a virtue in ancient Greece, it was assumed that the armies were being led by "the best." This virtue was called arete (Greek: ἀρετή). Etymologically, as the word developed, it also produced a more political term: aristoi (Greek: ἄριστοι). The term aristocracy is a compound word stemming from the singular of aristoi, ''aristos'' (Greek: ἄριστος), and the Greek word for power, ''kratos'' (Greek: κράτος).
From the ancient Greeks, the term passed to the European Middle Ages for a similar ''hereditary class'' of military leaders, often referred to as the nobility. As in Greece, this was a class of privileged men and women whose familial connections to the regional armies allowed them to present themselves as the most "noble" or "best" of society.
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