Editing Patrician (ancient Rome) (section)

==Origin==
According to [[Livy]], the first hundred men appointed senators by [[Romulus]] were referred to as "fathers" (Latin ''patres''), and the descendants of those men became the patrician class. This account is also described by [[Cicero]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Botsford|first=George Willis|date=1906|title=The Social Composition of the Primitive Roman Populus|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=21|issue=3|pages=498–526|doi=10.2307/2140599|jstor=2140599|issn=0032-3195}}</ref> The appointment of these one hundred men into the [[Roman Senate|Senate]] gave them a noble status.<ref name=":1" /> That status is what separated the patricians from the plebeians. Some accounts detail that the one hundred men were chosen because of their wisdom.<ref name=":1" /> This would coincide with the idea that ancient Rome was founded on a merit-based ideal.<ref name=":1" /> According to other opinions, the patricians ({{lang|la|patricii}}) were those who could point to fathers, i.e., those who were members of the clans ({{lang|la|gentes}}) whose members originally comprised the whole citizen body.<ref>{{harvp|Clay|1911|p=931}} cites [[Livy]]  ii. 56</ref>

Other noble families that came to Rome during the time of the kings were also admitted to the patriciate, including several who emigrated from [[Alba Longa]], after that city was destroyed by [[Tullus Hostilius]]. The last-known instance of a gens being admitted to the patriciate prior to the first century BC was when the [[Claudia gens|Claudii]] were added to the ranks of the patricians after coming to Rome in 504 BC, five years after the establishment of the Republic.<ref name="Harper">
[[Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities|''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'']], Second Edition, [[Harry Thurston Peck]], Editor (1897)</ref><ref name="OCD" /><ref name="livy2">[[Livy|Titus Livius]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', Book II</ref><ref name="livy1">[[Livy|Titus Livius]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', Book I</ref> 

The criteria applied by Romulus to choose certain men for this class remain contested by academics and historians, but the importance of the patrician/plebeian distinction is accounted by all as paramount to ancient Roman society. The distinction between the noble class, the patricians, and the Roman populace, the plebeians, existed from the beginning of ancient Rome.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last=Botsford|first=George Willis|date=1906|title=The Social Composition of the Primitive Roman Populus|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=21|issue=3|pages=498–526|doi=10.2307/2140599|jstor=2140599|issn=0032-3195}}</ref> This distinction became increasingly important in the society until the period of the late republic. 

The patricians were given noble status when named to the Senate, giving them wider political influence than the plebeians, at least in the times of the early Republic.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Botsford|first=George Willis|date=1906|title=The Social Composition of the Primitive Roman Populus|journal=Political Science Quarterly|volume=21|issue=3|pages=498–526|doi=10.2307/2140599|jstor=2140599|issn=0032-3195}}</ref> The patricians in ancient Rome were of the same status as aristocrats in [[Ancient Greece|Greek society]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Mathisen|first=Ralph W.|title=Ancient Roman civilization : history and sources, 753 BCE to 640 CE|year=2019|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-084960-3|oclc=1137838429}}</ref> Being of the noble class meant that patricians were able to participate in government and politics, while the plebeians could not. This privilege was important in ancient Roman history and eventually caused a large divide between the two classes. 

During the middle and late Republic, as this influence gradually eroded, plebeians were granted equal rights in most areas, and even greater in some. For example, only plebeians could serve as the [[tribune of the plebs]]. There were quotas for official offices. One of the two consulships was reserved for plebeians. Although being a patrician remained prestigious, it was of minimal practical importance. With the exception of some religious offices which were devoid of political power, plebeians were able to stand for all of the offices that were open to patricians. Plebeians of the [[Nobiles|senatorial class]] were no less wealthy than patricians at the height of the republic. Originally patrician, [[Publius Clodius Pulcher]] willingly arranged to be adopted by a plebeian family in order to qualify to be appointed as the tribune of the plebs.