Patriciate (Roman Empire)
The patriciate was the long-established, social and mostly also political upper class in ancient Rome . His relatives were the patricians ( Latin : patricius, Greek : πατρίκιος). The word patrician ( patricius ) is derived from the Latin word pater, patres (father, ancestor).
Following the explanations of the historian Livy , the patricians were the descendants of a hundred senators who had been chosen by Romulus . All the rest were plebeians . Dionys, on the other hand, claims that Romulus based his selection of patricians on wealthy people from birth. Plutarch announced that it was well-able men from the people, from whom Romulus had selected a hundred senators to call them patricians. It is commonly said that the patricians are descendants of the tribus (families) Tities , Ramnes and Luceres , who founded Rome or who settled there shortly after it was founded.
In the early Roman Republic , mixed marriages between patricians and plebeians, i.e. with the common people, were initially forbidden and did not exist until 445 BC. Admitted by law by the Lex Canuleia de Conubio patrum et plebis . Patricians were only allowed to earn their income from their land, mostly from agriculture or from booty in war. Commercial activities, banking or trading transactions were initially forbidden and were later considered at least frowned upon. In the course of the class struggles , these restrictions eased when the plebeians had won their right to participate in political power. For this purpose, pioneering laws had been put in place, such as the Leges Liciniae Sextiae , which first allowed political participation, to the Lex Hortensia , which gave plebiscites the force of law. From the time of the Middle Republic, the patrician families and several plebeian families formed the political ruling class of Rome. Nevertheless, certain religious offices were reserved for the patricians until the imperial era, such as that of the flamen dialis , the rex sacrorum , the Salians and the Flemings of Mars and Quirinus , but not that of the Pontifex Maximus , which only existed until the Lex Ogulnia im Years 300 BC Was reserved exclusively for patricians, but was then also open to plebeians. Plebeian Pontifices Maximi were z. B. Members of the gentes Liciniae, Muciae, Caeciliae and Domitiae. But there were also secular offices that were only allowed to be held by patricians, namely the office of Senate Chairman ( Princeps senatus ) and that of Interrex . Conversely, the patricians were barred from some offices, including the office of tribune , which was powerful in the late Republic, and that of the plebeian aedile .
In principle, the patricians still enjoyed a special reputation in the late republic and mostly tended towards the political direction of the Optimates . However, that prevented known patrician as Julius Caesar or Publius Clodius Pulcher not believe in the populares convert or to take their party.
Well-known patrician families, who also provided many consuls and other high officials of the Roman Republic, included the Cornelier , Valerier , Julier , Claudier , Aemilier and Fabier .
The patrician families already took part during the time of the late Roman Republic from around 150 BC. The number decreased significantly because they had fewer offspring, suffered from sterility or were decimated by war, civil war or proscriptions during the crisis of the republic . Once the state-bearing stratum of the population, many patrician families disappeared by 30 BC. BC, especially during the second triumvirate . Emperor Augustus , the founder of the principate , belonged to a patrician gens since his testamentary adoption by Gaius Julius Caesar and tried to strengthen the class again by promoting old families; In addition, he let the Senate 29 v. Through the Lex Saenia give the right to appoint new patricians. This right had already been granted to Caesar by the Lex Cassia . Augustus' successor also claimed this right in future.
In the late ancient Roman Empire , Emperor Constantine the Great introduced the title of patricius as a title for men who had rendered services to the emperor. Until the end of antiquity it was important as an honorary title (compare, for example, Petros Patrikios ); in Westrom he was from Constantius III. reserved for the magister militum and actual rulers. In Ostrom it lost some of its exclusivity after the 7th century , but remained a coveted honorary rank as patrikios even in the Middle Ages.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Livy I 8.7.
- ↑ Dion. II 8.
- ↑ Plutarch Rome. XIII, 2.
- ↑ Francesco De Martino : Economic history of ancient Rome , translated by Brigitte Galsterer (original title: Storia economica di Roma antica ). CH Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-30619-5 . P. 37.
- ^ Ingemar König: Der Römische Staat I - Die Republik , page 169, Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart, 1992, ISBN 3-15-008834-8
- ^ Herbert Hausmaninger , Walter Selb : Römisches Privatrecht , Böhlau, Vienna 1981 (9th edition 2001) (Böhlau-Studien-Bücher) ISBN 3-205-07171-9 , pp. 7, 10, 22.
- ↑ Robert Bunse: In: Göttinger Forum for Classical Studies. No. 8, 2005. The distribution of opportunities between patricians and plebeians in the comitia consularia. (PDF; 159 kB)