patricians

Patricians were the hereditary aristocratic class of ancient Rome. The term derives from patres, "fathers," and originally designated the families that claimed descent from the first senators instituted by Romulus. In the early Roman Kingdom and the early Republic they monopolized political authority, controlled most priesthoods, and supplied many military leaders. The patrician order was defined by birth and family status, and included the patres conscripti, the senators.

The patricians' dominance was challenged by the plebeians in the Conflict of the Orders. Reforms gradually opened offices and rights to non-patricians: the Lex Canuleia (445 BCE) allowed intermarriage with plebeians; the Licinian-Sextian laws (367 BCE) opened the consulship to plebeians; the Hortensian Law (287 BCE) made plebiscites binding on all classes. By the late Republic, many offices were legally accessible to plebeians, though patrician families remained influential.

Decline and later usage: By the Imperial era, the old political distinction weakened; patrician status persisted as a social badge, and the title patricius was granted by emperors as an honor. In the Byzantine Empire it remained a high court rank. In medieval and Renaissance Italy, "patrician" came to denote the urban oligarchy—especially in Venice, Genoa, and other city-states—long after patrician status ceased to govern Roman offices.