Roman Society

Roman society was shaped by family, law, property, civic status, age, gender, origin and personal ties. The same person could be a citizen, a client of a powerful patron, head of a household, veteran, debtor, member of a collegium or inhabitant of a provincial town.

In brief:

the basic unit was the familia headed by a household father;
political status depended on citizenship and place in the community;
property distinctions separated senators, equestrians, urban and rural masses;
slaves and freedmen were central to economy and domestic life;
patronage connected high and low status people through networks of obligation and service.

Patrician Senator,reconstruction

Plebeian,reconstruction

Family and household

For Romans, society began with the household. Familia included not only spouse, children and relatives, but also slaves, clients and property under the authority of the pater familias. Ideally, the household father was responsible for ancestral cult, discipline, marriages, inheritance and the family's public honour.

The position of men and women was not the same. Men more often took part in politics, the army and legal life; women, especially matronae from prosperous families, managed the household, kinship ties and property, although formal political rights were limited. The articles Men in Ancient Rome and Women in Ancient Rome therefore show different sides of one social system.

Orders, status and wealth

Roman social structure changed from Republic to Empire, but several groups remained especially visible. Patricians connected their prestige with ancient lineages; plebeians formed the broad body of citizens and gradually won political rights; senators and equestrians made up higher strata tied to office, land, military service and finance.

Below them were free poor citizens, craftsmen, merchants, tenants, clients and provincial inhabitants. Still lower in legal terms stood slaves, although the actual lives of slaves differed greatly: a household steward, literate secretary, farm worker and mine slave lived in very different conditions. Freedmen could possess property and connections, but origin continued to affect status.

Citizenship, patronage and provinces

Roman citizenship gave a person important legal possibilities, but it did not make all citizens socially equal. A wealthy senator, urban craftsman and poor rural citizen had different resources. Alongside law stood informal ties: a patronus protected a client, helped with advice, money or courts, while the client supported the patron with votes, services and public attendance.

As Rome expanded, society became imperial. It included inhabitants of Italy, Latin communities, peregrini, municipal elites, veterans, soldiers and provincial aristocracies. By the third century CE, the distinction between citizens and non-citizens became less important than property, administrative and military status.

Topic navigation

I. Main statuses

II. People and household

III. Roman world

Literature

1. Cicero. De Officiis; Speeches. 2. Livy. History of Rome. 3. Pliny the Younger. Letters. 4. Paul Veyne. Roman Erotic Elegy and the Roman Family; Bread and Circuses. 5. Peter Garnsey, Richard Saller. The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture. 6. Mary Beard. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome.

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