A discussion into the contributions of various factors into the determination of social status within the ancient cities of the Romans and Greeks.
This paper reviews gender, class, money, military purpose, citizenship, behaviour – including hubris and sycophancy and patronage, as different facets determining social class in Ancient Greece and Rome. The range of subjects discussed span over the Greek, Hellenistic and Roman periods, including different examples from many different cities.
“Throughout this essay, it is pertinent to realise that the idea of public and private spheres is an 18th Century premise with no basis in the Ancient world where privacy and community overlapped and were not separate “worlds”, rather, there were degrees of closeness. In establishing those inside and outside of the social hierarchy this overlap causes considerable confusion in evaluating factors for status. It would be remise to view women as lack any social status because of lack of political rights; women still played a very important role within society.”