Roman Society Citizens

Question 1

Categories within Roman society

Answer 1

• Freeborn people (ingenuus, ingenua)
• Slaves
• Freed slaves (libertus, liberta)
• Citizens
• Non-citizens (peregrini)
• Citizenship shows in your name
• Wealth gradations

Question 2

Tria nomina (three names)

Answer 2

• praenomen (a personal name)
• nomen (family name; most important)
• cognomen (nickname – sort of)
• Gaius Julius Caesar
• Marcus Tullius Cicero
• Agnomen (more of a title)
• Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus

Question 3

The nomen

Answer 3

• The nomen shows family ties and citizenship
• A family name handed down through generations is novel in
  the Mediterranean world
• Other places give a name with “son of”
• Polybius, son of Lykortas, of Megalopolis
• Perikles, son of Xanthippos, of Athens

Question 4

Repetitive praenomina!

Answer 4

• Only 17 common ones
• Marcus, Gaius, Lucius, Publius
• Abbreviations
• Marcus = M.
• Gaius = C.

Question 5

Roman citizens: public rights and duties

Answer 5

• Vote
• Hold office
• Serve in Roman legions
• Different legal treatment
• Only citizens wear toga
• Tria nomina

Question 6

Roman citizens: private rights
and duties

Answer 6

• Conubium (legitimate marriage with citizen offspring)
• Commercium (trade)
• Appeal
• Gradations of citizenship for outsider

Question 7

Not all citizens are equal

Answer 7

• Patricians/plebeians
• Reminder: Struggle of the Orders
• Some plebeians are wealthy
• Wealth classes
• Honestiores and humiliores
• From 2nd c. AD on
• Consider Antonine Constitution

Question 8

Categories are added over time

Answer 8

• Republic: Patrician/Plebeian
• Late Republic: Noble/non noble
• Nobilis means you have been elected consul
• “New man” (novus homo) ancestors have not held consulship
• Marius, Cicero