| Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary 1,521,874,266 visitors served. |
|
Dictionary/ thesaurus | Medical dictionary | Legal dictionary | Financial dictionary | Acronyms | Idioms | Encyclopedia | Wikipedia encyclopedia | ? |
plebs |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia | 0.11 sec. |
|
plebs (plĕbz) or plebeians (plĭbē`ənz) [Lat. plebs=people], general body of Roman citizens, as distinct from the patrician patrician (pətrĭsh`ən), member of the privileged class of ancient Rome. ..... Click the link for more information. class. They lacked, at first, most of the patrician rights, but with the establishment of the tribune of the people in the 5th cent. B.C., they gradually achieved political equality with the patricians. First marriage of plebeians with patricians was validated, then plebeians were admitted successively over several decades to the quaestorship, the consulate, the dictatorship, the censorship, and the praetorship; they finally obtained the important priestly offices of the pontificate and augurship in 300 B.C. With the blurring of the distinction between the two classes, from this time the name plebs passed to the lowest ranks of the people. BibliographySee K. Raaflaub, ed., Social Struggles in Archaic Rome (1986). How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
|
| ? Mentioned in | ? References in periodicals archive | |
|---|---|---|
There, he makes insightful albeit imprudent diagnoses - a man's wife is unfaithful, a woman's job is imperiled - and dispenses placebos to the plebes. Although the staff at West Point has always tried to maintain a cloistered environment in which to change callow boys into dependable officers, today's plebes are a challenge. The boys are plebes in a masculine netherworld, their body language straining with repressed sexuality. |
| Encyclopedia |
| Free Tools: |
For surfers:
Browser extension |
Word of the Day |
Help
For webmasters: Free content | Linking | Lookup box | Double-click lookup | Partner with us |
|---|