Social class in ancient Rome

Social class in ancient Rome was hierarchical, with multiple and overlapping social hierarchies. An individual's relative position in one might be higher or lower than in another, which complicated the social composition of Rome.^[1]

The status of freeborn Romans during the Republic was established by:

• Ancestry (patrician or plebeian).
• Census rank (ordo) based on wealth and political privilege, with the senatorial and equestrian ranks elevated above the ordinary citizen.
• Gender.
• Citizenship, of which there were varying types
• The commoners and slaves were in the lower class