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Patricians Vs Plebeians

709 Words3 Pages

Introduction

Upon on our reading, this was a time in Rome where the rich, patricians, were a small part of the population but owned the most wealth, and the plebeians who largely populated the area but owned little to no wealth. “The patricians were the ruling class of the early Roman Empire. Only certain families were part of the patrician class and you had to be born a patrician. The patricians were only a small percentage of the Roman population, but they held all the power ('Ancient Rome: Plebeians and Patricians", 2017). Everyone else who was born into this wealth was considered Plebeians—typically-- Plebeians were the farmers, craftsmen, laborers, and soldiers of Rome ("Ancient Rome: Plebeians and Patricians", 2017). This …show more content…

In this paper, we will discuss the economic and political differences between the patricians and the plebeian classes that led to this revolt.

Economic & Political Differences

There is a stark difference between both the patricians and plebeians. For instance, geographically where they lived. Patricians typically lived in the city while plebeians lived in the countryside. This was caused by a sort of gentrification after the war—as the plebeians couldn’t afford to live in the city behind the city walls after the war. Much of the war to drive out the kings was done on countryside soil ("Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 7", 2017). This means that the wealth of plebeians farms diminished, requiring them to borrow money from the rich (Patricians) to rebuild their land and sustain themselves ("Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 7", 2017). These debts kept plebeians in a constant state of poverty while keeping the …show more content…

This frustration led the plebeians to leave their post in the Army that protected patricians and led to the beginning of the Plebeian revolt. “It was the hard law of debt which first drove the plebeians to revolt. As there was no legal way to redress their wrongs, they decided that they would no longer serve in the army, but leave the patricians to fight their own battles. They, therefore, deserted their general, marched in full array to a hill beyond the Anio, which they called the Sacred Mount (Mons Sacer), and proposed to form an independent city (B.C. 494)” ("Outlines of Roman History, Chapter 7",

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