Patrician (ancient Rome)
The patricians (from Latin: patricius) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 BC). By the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance. The social structure of ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. The status of patricians gave them more political power than the plebeians, but the relationship between the groups eventually caused the Conflict of the Orders. This time period resulted in changing of the social structure of ancient Rome.
After the Western Empire fell, the term "patrician" continued as a high honorary title in the Eastern Empire. In many medieval Italian republics, especially in Venice and Genoa, medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of leading families. In the Holy Roman Empire, the Grand Burgher families had a similar meaning. Subsequently, "patrician" became a vague term used to refer to aristocrats and the higher bourgeoisie in many countries.
Origin[edit]
According to Livy, the first 100 men appointed as senators by Romulus were referred to as "fathers" (Latin patres), and the descendants of those men became the patrician class. This account is also described by Cicero.[1] The appointment of these one hundred men into the Senate gave them a noble status.[1] That status is what separated the patricians from the plebeians. Some accounts detail that the one hundred men were chosen because of their wisdom.[1] This would coincide with the idea that ancient Rome was founded on a merit-based ideal.[1] According to other opinions, the patricians (patricii) were those who could point to fathers, i.e., those who were members of the clans (gentes) whose members originally comprised the whole citizen body.[2]
Other noble families which came to Rome during the time of the kings were also admitted to the patriciate, including several who emigrated from Alba Longa, after that city was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius. The last-known instance of a gens being admitted to the patriciate prior to the 1st century BC was when the Claudii were added to the ranks of the patricians after coming to Rome in 504 BC, five years after the establishment of the Republic.[3][4][5][6]
The criteria for why Romulus chose certain men for this class remains contested by academics and historians, but the importance of the patrician/plebeian distinction is accounted by all as paramount to ancient Roman society. The distinction between the noble class, the patricians, and the Roman populace, the plebeians, existed from the beginning of ancient Rome.[7] This distinction became increasingly important in the society until the period of the late republic.
The patricians were given noble status when named to the Senate, giving them wider political influence than the plebeians, at least in the times of the early Republic.[8] The patricians in ancient Rome were of the same status as aristocrats in Greek society.[9] Being of the noble class meant that patricians were able to participate in government and politics, while the plebeians could not. This privilege was important in ancient Roman history and eventually caused a large divide between the two classes.
During the middle and late Republic, as this influence gradually eroded, plebeians were granted equal rights in most areas, and even greater in some. For example, only plebeians could serve as the tribune of the plebs. There were quotas for official offices. One of the two consulships was reserved for plebeians. Although being a patrician remained prestigious, it was of minimal practical importance. With the exception of some religious offices which were devoid of political power, plebeians were able to stand for all of the offices that were open to patricians. Plebeians of the senatorial class were no less wealthy than patricians at the height of the republic. Originally patrician, Publius Clodius Pulcher willingly arranged to be adopted by a plebeian family in order to qualify to be appointed as the tribune of the plebs.
Late Roman and Byzantine period[edit]
Patrician status still carried a degree of prestige at the time of the early Roman Empire, and Roman emperors routinely elevated their supporters to the patrician caste en masse. This prestige gradually declined further, and by the end of the 3rd-century crisis patrician status, as it had been known in the Republic, ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The emperor Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) reintroduced the term as the empire's senior honorific title, not tied to any specific administrative position, and from the first limited to a very small number of holders.[24][25] The historian Zosimus states that in Constantine's time, the holders of the title ranked even above the praetorian prefects.[26]
In the late Western Roman Empire, the title was sparingly used and retained its high prestige, being awarded, especially in the 5th century, to the powerful magistri militum who dominated the state, such as Stilicho, Constantius III, Flavius Aetius, Comes Bonifacius, and Ricimer.[24] The patrician title was occasionally used in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire; for instance, Pope Stephen II granted the title "Patricius of the Romans" to the Frankish ruler Pepin the Short.[24] The revival of patrician classes in medieval Italian city-states, and also north of the Alps, is covered in patricianship.
The eastern emperor Zeno (r. 474–491) granted it to Odoacer to legitimize the latter's rule in Italy after his overthrow of the rebellious magister militum Orestes and his son Romulus Augustulus in 476. In the Eastern Empire, Theodosius II (r. 408–450) barred eunuchs from holding it, although this restriction had been overturned by the 6th century. Under Justinian I (r. 527–565), the title proliferated and was consequently somewhat devalued, as the emperor opened it to all those above illustris rank, i.e. the majority of the Senate.[27]
In the 8th century, in the Eastern Roman Empire, the title was further lowered in the court order of precedence, coming after the magistros and the anthypatos. However it remained one of the highest in the imperial hierarchy until the 11th century, being awarded to the most important strategoi (provincial governors and generals, allies) of the Empire.[24] In the court hierarchy, the eunuch patrikioi enjoyed higher precedence, coming before even the anthypatoi-Latn.[28] The title was also granted to important allied foreign rulers, as the early Bulgarian ruler Kubrat, whose ring A was inscribed in Greek XOBPATOY and ring C was inscribed XOBPATOY ПATPIKIOY,[29] indicating the dignity of Patrikios (Patrician) that he had achieved in the Byzantine world.[30]
According to the late 9th-century Kletorologion, the insignia of the dignity were ivory inscribed tablets.[31] During the 11th century, the dignity of patrikios followed the fate of other titles: extensively awarded, it lost in status, and disappeared during the Komnenian period in the early 12th century.[24] The title of prōtopatrikios (πρωτοπατρίκιος, "first patrician") is also evidenced in the East from 367 to 711, possibly referring to the senior-most holder of the office and leader of the patrician order (taxis).[24][32] The feminine variant patrikia (πατρικία) denoted the spouses of patrikioi; it is not to be confused with the title of zostē patrikia ("girded patrikia"), which was a unique dignity conferred on the ladies-in-waiting of the empress.[24]
