Lowest Ranking Of The Social Classes example essay topic

Ancient Roman society in particular had a distinct structure regarding the social classes, in other words, a hierarchy similar to that of the varna's in India. The highest-ranking Roman families were either patricians or equestrians, where the lowest were the plebeians. Women in Rome were also treated differently according to their class, though they all had something in common, lack of freedom with submission to men. Beginning with the equites, or equestrians, this social class originally included horsemen and knights and formed the Calvary at Rome. Through time, as do all terms, the equites eventually came to be known as the wealthy business or capitalist class.

In the business class, there were opportunities for the equites to make money within the provinces, including tax collection, banking, money lending, operating mines and importing and exporting goods. They had opportunities to enter the Senate but generally led a life of business. With time the equites held a social standing similar to that of the senators and had much political influence, with opportunities to hold military positions in the army. The status of the patricians, which literally means "fathers", was that many of them were senators who controlled politics. These senators controlled all civil and criminal law, and dominated the army.

This class was composed mostly of landowners, the numbers of which increase over time due to the distinction between wealth from land and wealth from commerce. Patricians were forbidden to marry the plebeians, eventually causing the number of patrician families to decline and their political influence to diminish. The lowest ranking of the social classes, the plebeians, were excluded from the senate and other priesthoods and did not have rights to hold public office, or administrate the law. However, they did have the liberty of participating in public office, causing many to gain wealth and form the "middle class". One of the lowest of the plebeian's classes was the proletarii, who were exempt from military service besides contributing their children to it.

Cicero established to all of Roman society that "Our ancestors established the rule that all women, because of their weakness of intellect, should be under the power of guardians", guardians being men. However, the Roman women had notably more freedom than Greek women. They were able to eat meals with the men, preside over games for the dead, and even attain position of queen such as Tanaquil. The most stressed aspect of a woman's life was that she stay in her "sphere" inside the house to maintain the structural nature of the Roman family.