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1 Patricians and Plebeians

Patricians and Plebeians UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE HIST 1421 Jerome Reilly 29/9/2021

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Patricians and Plebeians Introduction Rome had two different political periods, the period of the Roman Kingdom and the period of the Roman Republic. During those periods, Roman citizens were divided into two categories: patricians and plebeians. The Patricians were the ruling elite of the early Roman Empire. They were affluent upper-class aristocrats. They constituted up a small percentage of the Roman population, yet they controlled all political, economic, and social power, holding all governmental and religious offices, passing laws, and owning land (students of history, n.d.).

As for the plebeians, they are the common people in Rome. They constituted the largest proportion of the population in the community, namely the farmers, workers, craftsmen, merchants, and soldiers in Rome. They were excluded from the Senate and were not allowed to hold public office, not even to marry Patricians (students of history, n.d.).

When the last king of Rome died in 509 BC, the Roman Republic was established, and the patricians monopolized all power in Rome, so the plebeians began to fight the rule of the Patricians. The difficult relationship between the Patricians and the plebeians resulted in a 'Conflict of the Orders,' in which commoners fought for their rights within Rome's political community (students of history, n.d.).

In those periods, Rome needed soldiers from the plebeian class to defend the republic, so the common people decided to strike, threatening the Patricians more than once to leave Rome to force them to submit to their demands, and this was the first revolt by the commoners due to

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resentment from the burden of debt and poverty. And because the commoners were the largest group of the population, so the patricians needed them, especially in the army, so the patricians decided to negotiate with the plebeians and allowed the plebeians to express their opinion in the Roman government by electing their leaders who were referred to as the tribunes to protect the rights of the commoners. They are two officials elected by the council to act on behalf of the commoners, but this number was later increased to ten (Wasson, 2014).

Following that, they were granted various rights, including the ability to run for public office, and marriage between the two classes was permitted. The Law of the Twelve Tables was enacted in 450 BC to protect the plebeians who were afraid of patrician abuses, therefore a series of regulations were enacted that applied to all citizens equally. The most well-known public victory was the abolition of the debt-slavery system. Plebeians were also permitted to serve as consuls; the first was elected in 367 BC, and many advanced to the position of dictator. (Wasson, 2014).

In conclusion, the struggle between the patricians and plebeians continued for hundreds of years, but the plebeians achieved several successes in their favor through several public revolutions. Officials known as tribunes of the plebeians were given the power to protect the plebeians, and marriages between patricians and plebeians were allowed. It also enabled the plebeians to access most of the political positions previously held by the patricians. The revolutions of the Plebeians in ancient Rome were one of the most important examples that history mentions so far in the steadfastness of the demand for rights and freedoms for the common people and not only for the wealthy. Word count: 544

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References

Students of History. (n.d.). Comparing Patricians and Plebeians. https://www.studentsofhistory.com/comparing-patricians-plebeians

Wasson, D. L. (2014). Patrician. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Patrician/...