Plebs

Quick Facts: Who was Plebs?

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Plebs

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The common body of free Roman citizens, distinct from the hereditary patrician class.

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Origins & Early Life

In ancient Rome, the plebeians or plebs were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or were in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, plēthos, meaning masses. In Latin, the word plebs is a singular collective noun, and its genitive is plebis. Plebeians were not a monolithic social class.

Career & Major Achievements

In the annalistic tradition of Livy and Dionysius, the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by Romulus' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate. Modern hypotheses date the distinction "anywhere from the regal period to the late fifth century" BC. The 19th-century historian Barthold Georg Niebuhr believed plebeians were possibly foreigners immigrating from other parts of Italy. This hypothesis, that plebeians were racially distinct from patricians, however, is not supported by the ancient evidence. Alternatively, the patriciate may have been defined by their monopolisation of hereditary priesthoods that granted ex officio membership in the senate.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Patricians also may have emerged from a nucleus of the rich religious leaders who formed themselves into a closed elite after accomplishing the expulsion of the kings. In the early Roman Republic, there are attested 43 clan names, of which 10 are plebeian with 17 of uncertain status. There existed an aristocracy of wealthy families in the regal period, but "a clear-cut distinction of birth does not seem to have become important before the foundation of the Republic". The literary sources hold that in the early Republic, plebeians were excluded from magistracies, religious colleges, and the Senate. However, some scholars doubt that patricians monopolised the magistracies of the early republic, as plebeian names appear in the lists of Roman magistrates back to the fifth century BC.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Plebs

True or False: “The distinction between plebeians and patricians was a clear-cut social division established immediately after Romulus founded Rome.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): Ancient evidence suggests that a clear-cut distinction of birth did not seem to become important until later in the Republic.

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