patrician

(noun)

Originally, a member of any of the families constituting the populus Romanus, or body of Roman citizens, before the development of the plebeian order; later, one who, by right of birth or by special privilege conferred, belonged to the senior class of Romans, who, with certain property, had by right a seat in the Roman Senate.

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(noun)

A member of a hereditary ruling-class family.

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(adjective)

Describing an aristocrat or other elite member of society. May also be used as a noun to refer to an elite member of society. 

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Examples of patrician in the following topics:

  • Money and Fashion: The Commissions of Roman Patrons

    • Famous Greek statues were copied and replicated for wealthy Roman patricians and Greek artists were commissioned for large-scale sculptures in the Hellenistic style.
    • The Farnese Bull , named for the patrician Roman family who owned the statue in the Renaissance, is believed to have been created at the end of the second century BCE for the collection of Asinius Pollio, a Roman patrician.

  • Sculpture in the Hellenistic Period

    • Famous Greek statues were copied and replicated for wealthy Roman patricians and Greek artists were commissioned for large-scale sculptures in the Hellenistic style.
    • The Farnese Bull (c. 200-180 BCE), named for the patrician Roman family who owned the statue in the Italian Renaissance, is believed to have been created for the collection of Asinius Pollio, a Roman patrician.

  • Mantua

    • Many of Mantua's patrician and ecclesiastical buildings are uniquely important examples of Italian architecture.

  • Roman Society

    • Roman society consisted of patricians, equites (equestrians, or knights), plebeians, and slaves.
    • In the beginning of the Roman republic, plebeians could neither intermarry with patricians or hold elite status, but this changed by the Late Republic, when the plebeian-born Octavian rose to elite status and eventually became the first emperor.

  • Architecture at Pompeii

    • The Roman domus, or house, played two important roles in Roman society, serving both as a home and as a place of business for patricians and wealthy Romans.
    • Many of a patron's clients would be freedmen or other plebeians and lesser patricians.

  • Mannerism and the Counter-Reformation

    • The painting shows a fantasy version of a Venetian patrician feast, with, in the words of the Inquisition: "buffoons, drunken Germans, dwarfs and other such scurrilities" as well as extravagant costumes and settings.

  • The Romans

    • Throughout its history, the people-including plebeians, patricians, and senators--were wary of giving one person too much power and feared the tyranny of a king.