Patricians And Plebeians 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

During the Conflict of Orders, the lower class Romans, or plebeians, forced the upper class Romans, known as patricians, to give them more rights and liberties (Hadas 1969).

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.

Even so, the Plebeians had one advantage over the Patricians: their great number. They used this effectively through the strategy of secession, or withdrawal from the Roman State during times of crisis, to demand political reformation. In effect, the Plebeians invented the concepts of strike and passive resistance. It was the harsh law of debt that first drove the Plebeians to revolt; since they could not redress their wrongs, they simply deserted the army and left the Patricians in the hopeless prospect of fighting their own wars. The

It is clear that the dynamics that characterized Rome’s society during the Republic were never easy. There was a constant push and pull of intentions and interests between Patricians and Plebeians. The Patricians always wanting to maintain economic and political supremacy while the Plebeians were in constant

However, after a long struggle the patricians finally codified and published the law which covered many legal issues, including property ownership, guardianship, inheritance, procedure for trials, and punishments for various crimes (p. 131). There were two elected officials with in the plebeians, the Licinius and Sextius tribunes; the wealthy plebeians finally gained the opportunity to provide elected political leadership for the senate. They also gained such cosmetic privileges as wearing the purple-bordered toga (p. 131). However, access to the highest political offices was still difficult for any plebeian, who often had to get the support of patrician families if he wanted a political career (p. 132). Unfortunately, since the patricians were already established, the political power had been expanded only slightly and still resided largely in a group of wealthy families, some of whom happened to be plebeian (p.132). Roman politics operated by a patron-client system, were free men would promise their votes to a certain electoral for help with legal

Keep in mind, you should know that the government changed a lot in its time. The patricians pretty much had all the power early on in the Republic. The highest position in the Republic was held by the consuls, who were the "rulers" of the Roman Republic. A senate made up of patricians and the assemblies elected these people to become consuls. Plebeians pretty much had no say in the government at the time.

Roman society was split into two social classes: the patricians and plebeians. The patricians were high class citizens who had many privileges and were capable of holding office, unlike the plebeians, who couldn’t hold office, had little voice in the government, and were only able to fill the lower ranks of the Roman army. In 493 BC, the plebeians refused to serve in the army any longer, and as a result an official plebeian assembly and political office were made: the concilium plebis and tribune. The tribune was elected by the plebeian assembly to represent the plebs; they had the power to block any action by the Senate, patrician assembly, and the consuls that would detriment the plebeians.

It can be seen that the problem was that patrician were lording power over the plebeians. Electing tribunes to protect the rights of a plebeian was important because it helped the empire be fair and equal to all the citizens which helped everyone be content. This prevented violent demonstrations from breaking out.

The Roman Republic consisted of the Plebeian and Patrician groups of people. Interestingly enough, both of these classes of people had access to certain rights, but were not treated equally. Unfortunately, it was the political and economic differences that led to the plebeian revolt. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to discuss how these economic and political differences led to the plebeian revolt.

The Plebeians and the Patricians had successfully banded together to oust Tarquinius Superbus from his kingdom and tyrannical rule. But due to the selfishness of the Patricians in power, the Plebeians revolted. Had the Patricians offered a more balanced and fair government, the Plebeians may have accepted it. The Aristocratic Republic that was formed treated the Plebeians poorly, placing them under the “law of debt”, not including them in the newly formed government, and unequally dividing the land to favor that of Patrician lineage. These key factors led to the Plebeian revolt.

Roman was separated in to two divisions, the patricians and the plebeians. Patricians originates from the word pater, which means “power of father”. Patrician itself stands for father of Rome state, and plebian stands for family. As with the Greeks, the lower class felt left out of the government and wanted to participate. Since every man had military training the patricians were forced to incorporate the plebeians into

From the reading, discuss how the economic and political differences between the patricians and the plebeian classes ultimately led to a plebeian revolt. Include in your discussion the results of the first revolt or secession. The Roman Republic consisted of the Patricians and Plebeian Classes together. Unlike you would imagine they were not entirely treated the same.

The elected representatives kept a careful eye on the Senate to ensure the plebeians were not being taken advantage of by the patricians. “By 287 BCE all formal, political distinctions between the patricians and the plebeians were gone” (Matthew et. al., 2014, p. 106). The patricians eventually saw that they required the assistance of the plebeians in their military, this allowed the plebeians to push for inclusion in the Senate. “The patricians were still able to use their wealth to buy control and influence over elected leaders” (UShistory.org, n.d.). This meant that the plebeians could still be effectively controlled by those wealthy members of society. As time passed the role of the Senate changed, during the rule of Dictator Sulla, the Senate was stripped of their lawmaking powers being just a group of wealthy men without any

Moreover, the Plebeians “The common people of Rome, who were free but had few of the Patricians advantages” (McKay et at., 2014, p.130). The Plebeians, had very little to no say so, in how the