patrician

Patrician is a term used to describe a member of the patrician class in ancient Rome, the hereditary aristocracy. The word comes from Latin patricius, literally “of the fathers,” from patres, meaning fathers or senators. The patricians formed the early ruling class; in later periods the term broadened to describe any high-born or noble person, or a style or manner associated with an elite.

In the Roman Kingdom and Republic, patricians claimed descent from the first families and held the main religious and political offices in the city. The earliest consuls and priestly posts were restricted to patricians. The plebeians, or common people, pressed for political and legal rights in the Conflict of the Orders; reforms gradually opened offices to non-patricians, and by the late Republic the political power of the patrician class had diminished though many patrician families remained socially prominent.

In medieval and early modern Italy, the term patrician extended to urban elites in several city-states. For example, the Venetian patriciate consisted of a closed circle of noble families who controlled government through the Great Council and other councils, shaping governance for centuries.

Today, patrician is used more generally to describe someone of high social standing or refined manners, often with connotations of inherited privilege. The historical patricians remain a focus of study in relation to ancient Rome and to the civic oligarchies of Italian city-states.