History glossary
patrician
a member of Rome’s hereditary patrician group.
- Category
- Roman history
- Region
- Mediterranean
- Date range
- 753 BCE–476 CE
What it means
Patrician families initially held important privileges. Wealthy plebeians later joined them within a broader governing elite.
Stories using this term
The Roman Republic
From the expulsion of Rome’s kings to the rise of Augustus, the Roman Republic built a powerful mixed constitution, expanded across the Mediterranean, and ultimately collapsed into civil war and one-man rule.
Ancient Rome
From a settlement on the Tiber to a Mediterranean empire, follow Rome through kings, republic, conquest, civil war, everyday life and the transformation of the Roman world.
