HI346 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Novus Homo, Sestertius, Plebs
Document Summary
Most important division in roman society was between the patricians and plebeians. Patricians were a small elite whose ancestry was traced to the first senate established by. Adult males who were not roman citizens, whether free or slave, fall outside of this division. Woman and children were not citizens, but took social status of their father or husband, which granted them various rights and protections not avail. To the woman and children of lower rank. Originally, all public offices were open only to patricians, and the classes could not intermarry. A series of social struggles was the plebs secede from the city on 3 occasions, the last in 297 bce, 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. By the late republic the only patrician prerogatives were certain priesthoods.
