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The distinction between patricians and plebeians in ancient Rome was based purely on birth. Although modern writers often portray patricians as rich and powerful families who managed to secure power over the less-fortunate plebeian families, plebeians and patricians among the senatorial class were equally wealthy.
Plebeians were tied to patricians through the clientela system of patronage that saw plebeians assisting their patrician patrons in war, augmenting their social status, and raising dowries or ransoms. [2] Plebeians were barred from marrying patricians in 450 BC but this law was annulled five years later in 445 BC by a tribune of the plebs.
Following this, there was a period of consular tribunes who shared power between plebeians and patricians in various years, but the consular tribunes apparently were not endowed with religious authority. [13] In 445 BC, the lex Canuleia permitted intermarriage among plebeians and patricians. [14]
The Conflict of the Orders or the Struggle of the Orders was a political struggle between the plebeians (commoners) and patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic lasting from 500 BC to 287 BC in which the plebeians sought political equality with the patricians.
A series of clashes between the people and the ruling patricians in 495 and 494 BC brought the plebeians to the brink of revolt, and there was talk of assassinating the consuls. Instead, on the advice of Lucius Sicinius Vellutus, the plebeians seceded en masse to the Mons Sacer (the Sacred Mount), a hill outside of Rome. [2]
The plebeian council (Latin: concilium plebis) was one of the popular assemblies of ancient Rome.In the standard conception of the classical republican constitution, it was essentially identical to the tribal assembly except that patricians were excluded and it was presided over mainly be plebeian tribunes.
The Patricians quickly became desperate to end what was, in effect, a labor strike, [8] and thus they quickly agreed to the demands of the Plebeians, that they be given the right to elect their own officials. [7] The Plebeians named these new officials Plebeian Tribunes (tribuni plebis), and gave them two assistants, the Plebeian Aediles ...
The patricians freed some of the plebs from their debts and conceded some of their power by creating the office of the Tribune of the Plebs. [5] This office was the first government position to be held by the plebs, since at this time the office of consul was held by patricians solely.