Differences In Ancient Rome

Patricians hold all the offices in ancient Rome and plebeians who outnumbered them were mostly farmers, craftsmen and soldiers. Therefore one can understand that practically while plebeians had no rights or knowledge, they were in an advantageous position as patricians couldn’t defend the city or do any kind of job without their help. Plebeians couldn’t tolerate the increasing debt and the abuse of patricians and demanded equality, by blackmailing the patricians

Plebeians pressured the patricians to make political concessions, one result being the publication of laws which served as a check on decisions by judicial officers. New officials and tribunes were created and were drawn from non-elite classes. They could veto or block actions the Assembly or officials that threatened lower order interests.

Chapter three labeled "Empire Urban life and imperial Majesty in Rome,China,and India. In Republican Rome a man named Romulus inaugurated traditional distinction between the patricians and the plebian. The patricians were the where the land owners who were also aristocrats that served as priests, magistrates, lawyers and/or judges. The plebian were the lower classed poor people who consisted of craftsmen, merchants and laborers. In 510 BCE the roman people expelled the last Etruscan kings and decided to rule themselves with without the need for a monarchy.

The Roman Republic operated as two different society classes such as Patricians and Plebeians. Patricians were rich landowners and they had slaves that run their homes, that is how wealthy these people really were. The Plebeians were common townspeople who didn’t have a lot of money, they worked to pay the bills, taxes, and pay for food for their families. Patricians were part of the aristocratic class and the Plebeians were known as the Roman citizens, which they were not Patricians. The word Patrician comes from the word ‘Patres’ which means plural father, which is a term to designate the first members or class, which is the Senate. Now the term Plebeian means, ‘of the common people’, so this means that the Plebeians were just the common townspeople and the Patricians were the more wealthy and were higher up in the class of people. Marriage between the two class was forbidden. If a man was a Patrician he could hold or take the place in the highest part of the Republic which is known as the consul. At the beginning of the Republic, the Patricians had

The trials of political success and error throughout history, have led to more efficient and authentic ways of governing, making nations stronger over the course of time. While the United States and the Roman Republic share similar political systems, the structure of the Roman Republic is in many ways flawed compared to the modern Democratic Republic of the U.S. nation. The Roman Republic’s rigid social structure flawed their political system because there was less flexibility within the social ladder, affecting citizens and their opportunity to be elected into office. The Republic’s society was made up of two distinct and separate social classes, the Patricians and the Plebeians. “In the early years of the Roman Republic, patricians controlled all the religious and political offices; plebeians had no right of appeal against decisions of the patrician government, since no laws were codified or published.

Rome was a highly hierarchical and class-conscious society; yet, since its power extended for centuries, the distinction between different classes varied in time. In the Roman kingdom and the early Roman Republic, the most important division in Roman society was between the Patricians and the Plebeians. The struggle for power between these two classes resulted in the development of the Roman system of government (McManus, 1997).

They could be even get elected to the senate and be consuls. Wealthy plebeians became part of the Roman nobility. The patricians always held a majority of the wealth and power in Ancient Rome. One of Rome's most famous senators, Cicero, was a plebeian. Because he was the first of his family to be elected to the senate, he was called a "New Man."

The rich had become more rich and powerful due to the vast military conquest executed by the Romans. As the rich became wealthier, the poor became more poor. Life for the average citizen became much more difficult. As stated by Ancient Civilizations, an effort to reform and save the plebeian class was attempted by brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The two were the tribunes of Rome, which gave the plebeian class protection from abuse of the upper class.

Then there was the common people of Rome, known as plebeians, the plebeians were free citizens with a voice in politics, however, they had very few of the patricians advantages, that was in the political and social sense. Most of the plebeians were poor artisan’s small farmers, and landless urban dwellers. “The Romans created several assembles through which men elected

They claimed that their ancestry gave them authority to make laws for Rome. The plebeians were citizens of Rome with the right to vote. However, they were barred by law from holding the most important government positions. In time, Rome’s leaders allowed the plebeians to form their own assembly and elect representatives called tribunes. Tribunes protected the rights of the plebeians from unfair acts of patrician officials. (page 156)

The situation between the patricians and the plebs were just social classification that had some aims for the Roman executives that the plebs seemed just like foreigners, although they were rich, very rich, poor, or military personal. Yes, they involved in many business and military activities, but they were not allowed to be commanders or leaders in the military at first, but later, the plebs took the advantage of some privileges after the social reform, for example, Lex Licinia Sextia. The plebs demanded for social reforms because they wanted to pay off their debts, to make profits through their lands and farms, to have lands to use and make them be profitable for themselves, and to have some executive duties to represent the other

UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE Learning Journal Unit Four Why were plebeians so important to Rome? The plebeians were the working class in the ancient Rome. They were majorly poor people working in the benefits of the patricians. It could be the case that the poorest plebeians actually sell their children or even themselves into slavery so as to be able to have access to the houses of the rich and hence some hope of an education and future. The plebeians were important because they were the most numerous group of people making the Roman states along with the slaves.

Originally, only patricians were qualified in becoming magistrates, which was one of the causes of unhappiness for the plebeians. They threatened to leave the city if no action was taken to benefit them. This would bring the consequence that of a halt in the workforce, since the plebeians were Rome's labor workers. This is what lead to the making of the Twelve Tables of Roman Law.

The plebeians were considered to be the lower class among the Romans. In spite of the fact that some of them were rich, they were by default considered lower than the patricians, also known as the aristocrats. The plebeians were mostly part of the army and fought for the independence of Rome from kingship to democratization (Morey W.C., n.d.). After the way, most of them were farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers, which were the foundation to have Rome on its feet (Tartufo, n.d.).

The plebeians and the patricians started out as a united force that successfully drove out the ruthless kingship in Rome. After the eviction of the Kings, the benefits of freedom was capitalized upon by the patricians, leaving the plebeians as a mediocre entity of the society. They had a relatively insignificant influence on the society and government, while the patricians took advantage, treating them unjustly and unfairly. The plebeians would ultimately launch a protest that would cause the patricians to rethink some of their actions. As we will come to see, that was only the beginning of a long series of protests and revolts by the plebeians in the fight for their equal rights. We will now explore the economic and political differences that led to the plebeians’ unrest, but first let’s look at the first revolt and its results.