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Social class in ancient Rome was hierarchical, but there were multiple and overlapping social hierarchies, and an individual's relative position in one might be higher or lower than in another.〔Koenraad Verboven, "The Associative Order: Status and Ethos among Roman Businessmen in Late Republic and Early Empire," ''Athenaeum'' 95 (2007), p. 861.〕 The status of freeborn Romans during the Republic was established by: * ancestry (patrician or plebeian); * census rank ''(ordo)'' based on wealth and political privilege, with the senatorial and equestrian ranks elevated above the ordinary citizen; * attainment of honors (the ''novus homo'' or self-made man established his family as ''nobilis'', "noble", and thus there were noble plebeians); and * citizenship, of which there were grades with varying rights and privileges. Men who lived in towns outside Rome (such as ''municipia'' or colonies) might hold citizenship, but lack the right to vote (see ''ius Latinum''); free-born Roman women were citizens, but could not vote or hold political office. There were also classes of non-citizens with different legal rights, such as ''peregrini''. Under Roman law, slaves were considered property and had no rights as such. However, some laws regulated slavery and offered slaves protections not extended to other forms of property such as animals. Slaves who had been manumitted were freedmen ''(liberti)'', and for the most part enjoyed the same legal rights and protections as free-born citizens. Roman society was patriarchal in the purest sense; the male head of household ''(paterfamilias)'' held special legal powers and privileges that gave him jurisdiction (''patria potestas'') over all the members of his ''familia'', a more encompassing term than its modern derivative "family" that included adult sons, his wife (but only in Rome's earlier history, when marriage ''cum manu'' was practiced), married daughters (in the Classical period of Roman history), and various relatives as well as slaves. The patron-client relationship ''(clientela)'', with the word ''patronus'' deriving from ''pater'', "father", was another way in which Roman society was organized into hierarchical groups, though ''clientela'' also functioned as a system of overlapping social networks. A patron could be the client of a socially superior or more powerful patron; a client could have multiple patrons.〔Carlin A. Barton, ''The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster'' (Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 176–177.〕 ==Patricians and plebeians== In the Roman Kingdom and the early Roman Republic the most important division in Roman society was between the patricians, a small elite who monopolised political power, whose ancestry was traced to the first Senate established by Romulus,〔Livy, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' (1:8 )〕 and the plebeians, who comprised the majority of Roman citizens. Adult males who were not Roman citizens, whether free or slave, fall outside this division. Women and children were also not citizens, but took the social status of their father or husband, which granted them various rights and protections not available to the women and children of men of lower rank. The common assumptions that the patricians and the Roman elite were one and the same throughout the history of ancient Rome, and that all plebeians were of non-elite status throughout the history of ancient Rome, are entirely incorrect. From the Late Republic era onwards many members of the elite, including an increasing proportion of senators, came from plebeian families. The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, was of plebeian origin, as were many of his successors. By the Late Empire, few members of the Senate were from the original patrician families, most of which had died out. Rome continued to have a hierarchical class system, but it was no longer dominated by the distinction between patricians and plebeians. Originally, all public offices were open only to patricians, and the classes could not intermarry. Plebeians and Patricians were always at odds due to the fact that Plebeians wanted to increase their power.〔McKay, John P, Isbn..., Study guide for a History of World Societies Volume A: To 1500 (Content Technologies, 2013. Print), 51〕 A series of social struggles (see Conflict of the Orders) saw the ''plebs'' secede from the city on three occasions, the last in 297 BC, until their demands were met. They won the right to stand for office, the abolition of the intermarriage law, and the creation of office of tribune of the ''plebs''. This office, founded in 494 BC as a result of a plebeian secession, was the main legal bulwark against the powers of the patrician class, and only plebeians were eligible. The tribunes originally had the power to protect any plebeian from a patrician magistrate. Later revolts forced the Senate to grant the tribunes additional powers, such as the right to veto legislation. A tribune's person was sacrosanct, and he was obliged to keep an open house at all times while in office. Some patricians, notably Clodius Pulcher in the late 60s BC, petitioned to be assigned plebeian status, in order to accumulate the political influence among the people that the office of tribune afforded. The conflict between the classes came to a climax in 287 BC when patricians and plebeians were declared equal under the law. Following these changes the distinction between patrician and plebeian status became less important, and by the Late Republic the only patrician prerogatives were certain priesthoods. Over time, some patrician families declined, some plebeian families rose in status, and the composition of the ruling class changed. A plebeian who was the first of his line to become consul was known as a ''novus homo'' ("new man"), and he and his descendants became "noble" ''(nobiles)''. Notable examples of ''novi homines'' are the seven-time consul Marius, and Cicero, whose rise was unusual in that it was driven by his oratorical and intellectual abilities rather than, as with Marius, military success. During the Empire, ''patricius'' became a title of nobility bestowed by emperors.〔"patricians." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 16 January 2011.〕〔"plebeians." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 16 January 2011.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Social class in ancient Rome」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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