Ancient Rome's Social Hierarchy

In ancient Rome, the Romans had a social hierarchy that was way more strict than what we may consider our social hierarchy today. A social hierarchy is an order of social class, with producers at the bottom. The Roman social hierarchy consisted of four positions that a person could be in. The most powerful position that a person could acquire would be the position of emperor. The emperor would be the ruler of Rome, have the best clothes, and would be very wealthy. The next position would be the patricians. The patricians were ranked just below the emperor and were what we would consider an aristocrat or a noble. Someone who had wealth and very high social standing. Next, we have the plebeians who were what we would consider the working class.

The emperor, being the ruler of all Rome, had all power and freedom anyone could have. He would snap his fingers and people would serve him hand and foot, or he could go to the villa and do what he pleased. According to the article, Ancient Roman Role Sheets, “They stayed at the best villas, ate the finest food and dressed in only the most magnificent clothes. Life was luxurious, extravagant and indulgent-- the emperor’s family could spend their days enjoying their favorite pastimes, like music, poetry, hunting and horse racing.” This tells us that the emperor had lots of freedom and power to do what he wanted and to have what he pleased. While on the other hand, the slaves were the exact opposite, they had no freedom whatsoever. The slaves were beaten and tortured and no one would lift a finger to help them. According to the article, Ancient Roman Roll Sheets, “All slaves and their families were the property of their owners, who could sell or rent them out at anytime. Their lives were harsh. Slaves were often whipped, branded or cruelly mistreated.” This tells us that the slaves were owned as and looked at as property and not human beings. Slavs had no say in what happened to them and had no freedom. The emperor and the salve are extremely different in this aspect. The emperor had all the freedom he could want. The slaves had no freedom and were told what to do, opposed to the

The emperor, being the most powerful man, could spend the day doing what he pleased and not have anyone question him. According the article, Ancient Roman Roll Sheets, “ Life was luxurious, extravagant and indulgent-- the emperor's family could spend their days enjoying their favorite pastimes, like music, poetry, hunting and horse racing.” This tells us that the emperor and his family could do what they pleased and no one was the position to tell him otherwise. On the other hand, the slaves were told what to do and they were in no position to contradicted their masters. According to the article, Slavery in the Roman Empire, “...force them to work in such jobs as: mining for precious metals; building roads and bridges; and as executioners... The slaves that were profitable to their owners did jobs like farming and unskilled labor (i.e. digging, moving), and skilled labor (i.e. carpentry, weaving).” This tells us that the slaves were doing work that their masters assigned to them, whether it was skilled or not. These slaves had jobs and no free time. The emperor and slave are different in this area because they are both completely opposite. Like salt and pepper. The emperor had freedom to do what he wanted and no one could tell him different, while the slave was told what to do and they had no other