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68-452: Plebeian Claudii are found fairly early in Rome's history. Some may have been descended from members of the family who had passed over to the plebeians, while others were probably the descendants of freedmen of the gens. In the later Republic, one of its patrician members voluntarily converted to plebeian status and adopted the spelling " Clodius ". In his life of the emperor Tiberius , who

136-581: A brief revolt led by Appius Herdonius . Herdonius was a Sabine, like the ancestors of the Claudii, but his name shows that Appius had an existence independent of that gens. During the later years of the Republic, and continuing into Imperial times , the praenomen Appius was used by several plebeian gentes, including the Annii, Junii, Modii, Popidii, Saufeii, Silvii, and Villii. It must also have been used by

204-489: A complex culture of preserving the memory of and celebrating one's political accomplishments and those of one's ancestors. This culture also focused considerably on achievements in terms of war and personal merit. Throughout the Second Samnite War (326–304 BC), plebeians who had risen to power through these social reforms began to acquire the aura of nobilitas ("nobility", also "fame, renown"), marking

272-443: A conjectural transitio ad plebem ), and plebeians who had held curule offices (e.g., dictator, consul, praetor, and curule aedile). Becoming a senator after election to a quaestorship did not make a man a nobilis , only those who were entitled to a curule seat were nobiles . However, by the time of Cicero in the post-Sullan Republic, the definition of nobilis had shifted. Now, nobilis came to refer only to former consuls and

340-472: A different cognomen to each of his four sons: Russus (or Rufus ), Pulcher, Cento or Centho , and Nero . Pulcher , the surname of the next major branch of the Claudia gens, means beautiful , although it may be that the cognomen was given ironically. The Claudii Pulchri were an extensive family, which supplied the Republic with several consuls, and survived into imperial times. The other main branch of

408-471: A family trait. This style visible on some busts of Tiberius and Caligula , his grandnephew and successor. The most illustrious family of the plebeian Claudii bore the surname Marcellus , which is a diminutive of the praenomen Marcus . They gained everlasting fame from the exploits of Marcus Claudius Marcellus , one of Rome's finest generals, and a towering figure of the Second Punic War , who

476-474: A host of quirites , or spearmen. The nomen Claudius , originally Clausus , is usually said to be derived from the Latin adjective claudus , meaning "lame". As a cognomen , Claudus is occasionally found in other gentes. However, since there is no tradition that any of the early Claudii were lame, the nomen might refer to some ancestor of Attius Clausus. It could also have been metaphorical, or ironic, and

544-623: A private tutor. Throughout Roman society at all levels including plebeians, the paterfamilias (oldest male in the family) held ultimate authority over household manners. Sons could have no authority over fathers at any point in their life. Women had a subservient position in the family to fathers and husbands. Plebeians who lived in the cities were referred to as plebs urbana . Plebeians in ancient Rome lived in three or four-storey buildings called insula , apartment buildings that housed many families. These apartments usually lacked running water and heat. These buildings had no bathrooms and

612-468: A result of this sacrilege. However, Claudius was relatively young at the time of his censorship in 312 BC, and was elected consul sixteen years later, in 296. Caecus' brother, who shared the same praenomen, was distinguished by the cognomen Caudex , literally meaning a "treetrunk", although metaphorically it was an insult, meaning a "dolt." According to Seneca , he obtained the surname from his attention to naval affairs. See also Clodius for members of

680-566: A risk to collapse that Emperor Augustus passed a law limiting the height of the buildings to 18 metres (59 ft) but it appeared this law was not closely followed as buildings appeared that were six or seven floors high. Plebeian apartments had frescoes and mosaics on them to serve as decorations. Rents for housing in cities was often high because of the amount of demand and simultaneously low supply. Rents were higher in Rome than other cities in Italy along with other provincial cities. The owner of

748-645: A seat in the Senate , quickly becoming one of its most influential members. His descendants were granted a burial site at the foot of the Capitoline Hill , and his followers allotted land on the far side of the Anio , where they formed the core of what became the " Old Claudian " tribe. The emperor Claudius is said to have referred to these traditions in a speech made before the senate , in which he argued in favor of admitting Gauls to that body. "My ancestors,

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816-589: A strike". Ancient Roman tradition claimed that the Conflict led to laws being published, written down, and given open access starting in 494 BC with the law of the Twelve Tables , which also introduced the concept of equality before the law, often referred to in Latin as libertas , which became foundational to republican politics. This succession also forced the creation of plebeian tribunes with authority to defend plebeian interests. Following this, there

884-451: A temporary ad hoc "senate", not taking on fully classical elements for more than a century from the republic's establishment. The completion of plebeian political emancipation was founded on a republican ideal dominated by nobiles , who were defined not by caste or heredity, but by their accession to the high offices of state, elected from both patrician and plebeian families. There was substantial convergence in this class of people, with

952-574: A variety of jewelry. Since meat was very expensive, animal products such as pork, beef and veal would have been considered a delicacy to plebeians. Instead, a plebeian diet mainly consisted of bread and vegetables. Common flavouring for their food included honey, vinegar and different herbs and spices. A well-known condiment to this day known as garum , which is a fish sauce, was also largely consumed. Apartments often did not have kitchens in them so families would get food from restaurants and/or bars. One popular outlet of entertainment for Roman plebeians

1020-400: Is a major class divide. The rich and educated live in safeguarded facilities while others live in dilapidated cities referred to as the "pleeblands". Appius (praenomen) Appius ( Latin pronunciation: [ˈappɪ.ʊs] ), feminine Appia , is a Latin praenomen , or personal name , usually abbreviated Ap. or sometimes App. , and best known as a result of its extensive use by

1088-478: Is no evidence in favor of this hypothesis. The early Claudii favored the praenomina Appius , Gaius , and Publius . These names were used by the patrician Claudii throughout their history. Tiberius was used by the family of the Claudii Nerones, while Marcus , although used occasionally by the earliest patrician Claudii, was favored by the plebeian branches of the family. According to Suetonius,

1156-471: 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. 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 . Certain gentes ("clans") were patrician, signalled by their family names ( nomen ). In

1224-563: Is often said that the Claudii, who made constant use of the name Appius, were the only family to use that praenomen, and that it must have been a Latinization of the Oscan praenomen Attius or Attus . However, the name was by no means unique to the Claudian gens. During a political crisis in the middle of the 5th century BC, the Capitol was seized by a force of political refugees and slaves in

1292-408: Is that several of their ancestors bore the name Tiberius Claudius Nero ; of three emperors belonging to the same family, one is known by a praenomen, one by a nomen, and one by a cognomen. Some members of the imperial family adopted the fashion of wearing their hair short at the sides and front but long in the back, over the nape of the neck. Describing the appearance of Tiberius, Suetonius calls it

1360-612: Is unknown, but it must have been in the vicinity of Lake Regillus, where one of the most important battles in the early history of the Roman Republic was fought. The same cognomen was borne by a family of the Postumii , although in this instance the surname is supposed to have been derived from the Battle of Lake Regillus , in which the victorious Roman general was the dictator Aulus Postumius Albus . Crassus , sometimes given as

1428-412: The Claudii were. This cognomen was first adopted by Appius Claudius, the founder of the gens, and was retained by his descendants, until it was replaced by Crassus . Regillensis or Inregillensis , a surname of the earliest Claudii, is said to be derived from the town of Regillum , a Sabine settlement, where Appius Claudius lived with his family and retainers before coming to Rome. Its exact location

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1496-473: 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. Those who resided in the city and were part of the four urban tribes are sometimes called the plebs urbana , while those who lived in the country and were part of the 31 smaller rural tribes are sometimes differentiated by using

1564-478: The Orders ( Latin : ordo meaning "social rank") refers to a struggle by plebeians for full political rights from the patricians. According to Roman tradition, shortly after the establishment of the Republic, plebeians objected to their exclusion from power and exploitation by the patricians. The plebeians were able to achieve their political goals by a series of secessions from the city: "a combination of mutiny and

1632-474: The Republic, no patrician Claudius adopted a member of another gens; the emperor Claudius was the first who broke this custom, by adopting Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, afterwards the emperor Nero . According to legend, the first of the Claudii was a Sabine , by the name of Attius Clausus , who came to Rome with his retainers in 504 BC, the sixth year of the Republic . At this time, the fledgling Republic

1700-456: The Sabines or other Oscan-speaking peoples, it cannot be determined whether it was originally Oscan, or whether it belongs to the class of praenomina that were common to the Latin, Oscan, and Umbrian languages. It may be that when Attius Clausus adopted a Latin name, he chose a praenomen that was the Latin cognate of his own, or that he chose the Latin praenomen that sounded the closest. Appius

1768-594: The U.S. military, plebes are freshmen at the U.S. Military Academy , U.S. Naval Academy , Valley Forge Military Academy and College , the Marine Military Academy , the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy , Georgia Military College (only for the first quarter ), and California Maritime Academy . The term is also used for new cadets at the Philippine Military Academy . Since the construction of Philippine Military Academy ,

1836-413: The ancestors of gens Appia. Thus, it would be more accurate to say that the Claudii were the only patrician family to make regular use of the name. It may well have been more widespread amongst the plebeians, although most of the names that have come down to us from the period of the early Republic are from the leading patrician houses. As for whether Appius was introduced to Latin through contact with

1904-482: The course of many centuries. However, hairstyles and facial hair patterns changed as initially early plebeian men had beards before a clean shaven look became more popular during the Republican era before having facial hair was popularized again by Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century CE. Some plebeian women would wear cosmetics made from charcoal and chalk. Romans generally wore clothes with bright colors and did wear

1972-473: The creation of a ruling elite of nobiles . From the mid-4th century to the early 3rd century BC, several plebeian–patrician " tickets " for the consulship repeated joint terms, suggesting a deliberate political strategy of cooperation. No contemporary definition of nobilis or novus homo (a person entering the nobility) exists; Mommsen, positively referenced by Brunt (1982), said the nobiles were patricians, patrician whose families had become plebeian (in

2040-440: The different plebe knowledges. In British, Irish , Australian , New Zealand and South African English , the back-formation pleb , along with the more recently derived adjectival form plebby , is used as a derogatory term for someone considered unsophisticated, uncultured, or lower class. The British comedy show Plebs followed plebeians during ancient Rome. In Margaret Atwood 's novel Oryx and Crake , there

2108-491: The diminutive Crassinus , was a common surname usually translated as "thick, solid," or "dull". This cognomen succeeded that of Sabinus as the surname of the main family of the Claudia gens. It was borne by members of the family from the fifth to the third century BC. The other main families of the patrician Claudii were descended from Appius Claudius Caecus , the last recorded member of the Claudii Crassi, who gave

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2176-472: The direct relatives and male descendants thereof. The new focus on the consulship "can be directly related to the many other displays of pedigree and family heritage that became increasingly common after Sulla" and with the expanded senate and number of praetors diluting the honour of the lower offices. A person becoming nobilis by election to the consulate was a novus homo (a new man). Marius and Cicero are notable examples of novi homines (new men) in

2244-399: The early Roman Republic , there are attested 43 clan names, of which 10 are plebeian with 17 of uncertain status. A single clan also might have both patrician and plebeian branches sharing a nomen distinguished by a cognomen . 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

2312-528: The early days of the Roman Republic , a wealthy Sabine by the name of Attius Clausus emigrated to Rome from the town of Cures , together with his family and retainers, and was admitted to the patriciate. He subsequently Latinized his name, becoming Appius Claudius . The Claudii became one of the greatest of the Roman gentes , supplying numerous magistrates over several centuries. The Claudian gens

2380-473: The empire or of the local municipalities) or equestrians . Much less is known about the plebeians than the patricians in Ancient Rome, as most could not write, and thus could not record what happened in their daily life. The average plebeian did not come into a wealthy family; the politically active nobiles as a whole comprised a very small portion of the whole population. The average plebeian child

2448-421: The family. The patrician Claudii were noted for their pride and arrogance, and intense hatred of the commonalty. In his History of Rome, Niebuhr writes, That house during the course of centuries produced several very eminent, few great men; hardly a single noble-minded one. In all ages it distinguished itself alike by a spirit of haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of heart. During

2516-403: The foundation of the Republic". The literary sources hold that in the early Republic, plebeians were excluded from magistracies , religious colleges , and the Senate . Those sources also hold that they were also not permitted to know the laws by which they were governed. However, some scholars doubt that patricians monopolised the magistracies of the early republic, as plebeian names appear in

2584-479: The gens avoided the praenomen Lucius because two early members with this name had brought dishonor upon the family, one having been convicted of highway robbery, and the other of murder. However, the name was used by at least one branch of the Claudii in the final century of the Republic, including one who, as Rex Sacrorum , was certainly patrician. To these names, the plebeian Claudii added Quintus and Sextus , though Elizabeth Rawson has argued that Quintus

2652-419: The gens who used the alternate spelling of the name primarily or solely. Plebeian People Events Places 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 in other words " commoners ". Both classes were hereditary. The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to

2720-422: The gens, were seldom used when there was a more definite cognomen. A few of the patrician Claudii are mentioned without any surname. The surnames of the plebeian Claudii were Asellus , Canina , Centumalus , Cicero , Flamen , Glaber , and Marcellus . The earliest Claudii bore the surname Sabinus , a common surname usually referring to a Sabine, or someone of Sabine descent, which according to all tradition,

2788-532: The high cost of living in the city of Rome kept the value of real wages down. Some plebeians would sell themselves into slavery or their children in order to have access to wealthy households and to them hopefully advance socially along with getting a chance to have an education. Another way plebeians would try to advance themselves was by joining the military which became easier after the Marian reforms as soldiers were expected to pay for their own weapons. By joining

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2856-435: The insulae did not attend to duties regarding it and instead used an insularius who was most often an educated slave or a freedman instead. Their job was to collect rent from tenants, manage disputes between individual tenants and be responsible for maintenance. Not all plebeians lived in these conditions, as some wealthier plebs were able to live in single-family homes, called a domus . Another type of housing that existed

2924-595: The label plebs rustica . 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,

2992-406: The late Republic, when many of Rome's richest and most powerful men – such as Lucullus , Marcus Crassus , and Pompey – were plebeian nobles. In the later Republic, the term lost its indication of a social order or formal hereditary class, becoming used instead to refer to citizens of lower socio-economic status. By the early empire, the word was used to refer to people who were not senators (of

3060-439: The length of the hours varied as Romans divided the day into 12 daytime hours and 12 nighttime hours; with the hours being determined based on the seasons. Cicero wrote in the late republican period that he estimated the average laborer working in the city of Rome earned 6 1/2 denarii a day which was 5 times what a provincial worker would make. By middle of the 1st century CE this number was higher because of inflation but however

3128-653: The like, becoming such names as Tatius (also Sabine) and Atilius . During the late Republic and early Empire, the Claudii Nerones, who gave rise to the Imperial family, adopted the praenomen Decimus , seldom used by any patrician family. Subsequently they began to exchange traditional praenomina for names that first entered the family as cognomina, such as Nero , Drusus , and Germanicus . The patrician Claudii bore various surnames, including Caecus , Caudex , Centho , Crassus , Nero , Pulcher , Regillensis , and Sabinus . The latter two, though applicable to all of

3196-448: The lists of Roman magistrates back to the fifth century BC. It is likely that patricians, over the course of the first half of the fifth century, were able to close off high political office from plebeians and exclude plebeians from permanent social integration through marriage. Plebeians were enrolled into the curiae and the tribes; they also served in the army and also in army officer roles as tribuni militum . The Conflict of

3264-415: The military they could get a fixed salary, share of war loot along with a pension and an allotted land parcel. There was also the reward of getting citizenship for non-citizens. Potential recruits needed to meet a variety of requirements as well which included: being male, at least 172 centimetres (5.64 ft) tall, enlist before one was 35, having a letter of recommendation and completing training. In

3332-414: The most ancient of whom was made at once a citizen and a noble of Rome, encourage me to govern by the same policy of transferring to this city all conspicuous merit, wherever found." By imperial times, the influence of the Claudii was so great that the poet Virgil flattered them by a deliberate anachronism. In his Aeneid , he makes Attius Clausus a contemporary of Aeneas , to whose side he rallies with

3400-401: The only patrician family at Rome known to have used Appius . As for its Sabine equivalent, Attius has been the subject of much discussion by philologists. The form Attus is mentioned by Valerius Maximus , who connected it with the bucolic Greek name Atys. Braasch translated it as Väterchen , "little father," and connected it with a series of childhood parental names: "atta, tata, acca," and

3468-406: The patrician gens Claudia . The praenomen also gave rise to the patronymic gens Appia . As with many praenomina, there is no satisfactory explanation of the meaning of Appius. The origin of the name has been obscured by the fact that it is chiefly known from its association with gens Claudia, and was borne by no other major figures in Roman history. Titus Livius relates the story of how, in

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3536-500: The patrician Claudii bore the surname Nero , originally a Sabine praenomen described as meaning, fortis ac strenuus , which roughly translated is "strong and sturdy." It may be the same as the Umbrian praenomen Nerius . This family was distinguished throughout the latter Republic, and gave rise to several of the early emperors, including Tiberius , Claudius , and Nero . An oddity of the names by which these emperors are known today

3604-553: The possibility remains that this derivation is erroneous. The metathesis of Clausus into Claudius , and its common by-form, Clodius , involves the alternation of 'o' and 'au', which seems to have been common in words of Sabine origin. The alternation of 's' and 'd' occurs in words borrowed from Greek: Latin rosa from Greek rhodon ; but in this instance clausus or *closus is a Sabine word becoming clod- in Latin. The name could have come from Greek settlers in Latium, but there

3672-408: The religious objections of patricians, requiring at least one of the consuls to be a plebeian. And after 342 BC, plebeians regularly attained the consulship. Debt bondage was abolished in 326, freeing plebeians from the possibility of slavery by patrician creditors. By 287, with the passage of the lex Hortensia , plebiscites – or laws passed by the concilium plebis – were made binding on

3740-420: The rhetoric put into the mouths of the plebeian reformers of the early Republic are likely imaginative reconstructions reflecting the late republican politics of their writers. Contradicting claims that plebs were excluded from politics from the fall of the monarchy, plebeians appear in the consular lists during the early fifth century BC. The form of the state may also have been substantially different, with

3808-516: The surname of one of the Claudii Crassi, refers to the condition of his blindness, which is well-attested, although it appears that he did not become blind until his old age. Caecus' initial cognomen was Crassus. According to one legend, he was struck blind by the gods during his censorship , after inducing the ancient family of the Potitii to teach the sacred rites of Hercules to the public slaves. The Potitii themselves were said to have perished as

3876-615: The system and traditions were programmed the same as the United States Military Academy . First Year Cadets in PMA are called Plebes or Plebos (short term for Fourth Class Cadets) because they are still civilian antiques and they are expected to master first the spirit of Followership . As plebes, they are also expected to become the "working force (force men or "porsmen" ) in the Corps of Cadets. They must also know

3944-477: The whole Roman people. Moreover, it banned senatorial vetoes of plebeian council laws. And also around the year 300 BC, the priesthoods also were shared between patricians and plebeians, ending the "last significant barrier to plebeian emancipation". The veracity of the traditional story is profoundly unclear: "many aspects of the story as it has come down to us must be wrong, heavily modernised... or still much more myth than history". Substantial portions of

4012-433: Was diversorias (lodging houses) Tabernae which were made of timber frames and wicker walls open to streets with the exception of shutters being one to two floors high with tightly packed spaces. Plebeian men wore a tunic , generally made of wool felt or inexpensive material, with a belt at the waist, as well as sandals. Meanwhile, women wore a long dress called a stola . Roman fashion trends changed very little over

4080-473: Was a period of consular tribunes who shared power between plebeians and patricians in various years, but the consular tribunes apparently were not endowed with religious authority. In 445 BC, the lex Canuleia permitted intermarriage among plebeians and patricians. There was a radical reform in 367–6 BC, which abolished consular tribunes and "laid the foundation for a system of government led by two consuls, shared between patricians and plebeians" over

4148-400: Was a scion of the Claudii, the historian Suetonius gives a summary of the gens, and says, "as time went on it was honoured with twenty-eight consulships, five dictatorships, seven censorships, six triumphs, and two ovations." Writing several decades after the fall of the so-called " Julio-Claudian dynasty ", Suetonius took care to mention both the good and wicked deeds attributed to members of

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4216-620: Was acceptable among the Pulchri as well. The praenomen Appius is often said to have been unique to the Claudii, and nothing more than a Latinization of the Sabine Attius . But in fact there are other figures in Roman history named "Appius", and in later times the name was used by plebeian families such as the Junii and the Annii . Thus, it seems more accurate to say that the Claudii were

4284-471: Was also one of the proudest and most conservative families at Rome, nearly always siding with the aristocratic party against the plebs and the more reform-minded amongst the patricians. Many of them were known as much by the praenomen Appius as by the nomen Claudius, and the most famous of Roman roads, the Via Appia , or Appian Way , was named for its builder, Appius Claudius Caecus . For this reason, it

4352-501: Was common for a pot to be used. The quality of these buildings varied. Accessing upper floors was done via a staircase from the street they were built on. Sometimes these were built around a courtyard and of these, some were built around a courtyard containing a cistern. Lower floors were of higher quality while the higher ones were less so. By the beginning of the Roman Empire, the insulaes were deemed to be so dangerous because of

4420-527: Was engaged in regular warfare with the Sabines, and Clausus is said to have been the leader of a faction seeking to end the conflict. When his efforts failed, he defected to the Romans, bringing with him no fewer than five hundred men able to bear arms, according to Dionysius . Clausus, who exchanged his Sabine name for the Latin Appius Claudius , was enrolled among the patricians, and given

4488-446: Was expected to enter the workforce at a young age. Plebeians typically belonged to a lower socio-economic class than their patrician counterparts, but there also were poor patricians and rich plebeians by the late Republic. Education was limited to what their parent would teach them, which consisted of only learning the very basics of writing, reading and mathematics. Wealthier plebeians were able to send their children to schools or hire

4556-507: Was five times consul, and won the spolia opima , defeating and killing the Gallic king, Viridomarus , in single combat. Most of those who used the spelling Clodius were descended from plebeian members of the gens, but one family by this name was a cadet branch of the patrician Claudii Pulchri, which voluntarily went over to the plebeians, and used the spelling Clodius to differentiate themselves from their patrician relatives. Caecus ,

4624-495: Was to attend large entertainment events such as gladiator matches, military parades, religious festivals and chariot races. As time went on, politicians increased the number of games in an attempt to win over votes and make the plebeians happy. A popular dice game among plebeians was called alea . Plebeians who resided in urban areas had to often deal with job insecurity, low pay, unemployment and high prices along with underemployment. A standard workday lasted for 6 hours although

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