The Ancient Greek Social Classes

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The social stratifications for both societies had a few similarities, but overall were very different. The social stratification in both societies was mostly determined by birth, similar to the caste system, with almost no social mobility. The ancient greeks had 4 social classes; the Athens, which were the highest class, they had all political power and were the wealthiest, to be part of this social class you would need to be born in Athens, because the rights for the class could only be inherited hereditarily. There were the Metics, the middle class, which were people who weren’t from Athens, but came there to settle down, they weren’t slaves and had little rights compared to the upper class. There were the Freemen, which were a bit higher than the lowest class, but weren’t part of the middle class either. These people were slaves but were freed somehow by their owners, they weren’t from Athens, and they didn’t have the right to citizenship, no matter how much money they earned, and they could never be part of the middle class. Lastly, there were the slaves, the lowest class of all, or level, since the Greeks didn’t consider it a "class". They were people who were rescued from war, claimed as a slave as a child sold into slavery by their parents (usually women) or were kidnapped into slavery. Even lower class people had one or two slaves. They had practically no rights, but could gain his freedom through a number of different means, such as being paid for by a friend or relative, paying for his or her freedom, being released by his or her master, etc. On the other hand the Roman Republic social stratification was divided into two classes, which were then divided into other smaller classes. The upper class was the Patricians. The Patricians were born in Rome, had Roman blood and had wealth, they all came from old Roman Families. Inside the Patrician class there were two classes, the Senators and the equites. The Senators were the noble class, and all the political and royal families came under this category. The Equites were the economic class, they were below the Senatorial class and did task the senatorial class couldn’t, they were mostly knights. Under the Patricians there were the Plebians, the Plebians were the poor class, it was made up of artisans, shopkeepers and owners of small farms, the plebians couldn’t marry the patricians.

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