This page is about the social and political class in ancient Rome. For other uses of the term see Patrician (disambiguation)

Patrician (disambiguation)

Patrician may refer to:*Patrician , the original aristocratic families of Ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage...

.

The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite

Elitism

Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...

 families in ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

 Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

 it remained a high honorary title

Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy

The Byzantine Empire had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy, which was inherited from the Roman Empire. At the apex of the pyramid stood the Emperor, sole ruler and divinely ordained, but beneath him a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the administrative...

 in the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

. Medieval patrician classes were once again formally defined groups of elite burgher families in many medieval Italian republics

Italian city-states

The Italian city-states were a political phenomenon of small independent states mostly in the central and northern Italian peninsula between the 10th and 15th centuries....

, such as Venice

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 and Genoa

Republic of Genoa

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

, and subsequently "patrician" became a vaguer term used for aristocrat

Aristocracy (class)

The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...

s and elite bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 in many countries.

Etymology

The word "patrician" is derived from the Latin word patricius (plural patricii), which comes from patrēs, the plural of the Latin word pater (father). Pater was one of the terms applied to the original members of the Roman Senate

Roman Senate

The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

. The word comes down in English as "patrician" from the Middle English

Middle English

Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....

 patricion, from the Old French

Old French

Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...

 patrician. In modern English, the word patrician is generally used to denote a member of the upper class, often with connotations of inherited wealth, elitism, and a sense of noblesse oblige

Noblesse oblige

Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "nobility obliges".The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:# Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly....

.

Origin

According to Livy

Livy

Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...

, the first 100 men appointed as senators by Romulus

Romulus

- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...

 were referred to as "father" (patres), and the descendants of those men became the Patrician class.

Status

Patricians were bestowed special status as Roman citizens. They were better represented in the Roman assemblies

Roman assemblies

The Legislative Assemblies of the Roman Republic were political institutions in the ancient Roman Republic. According to the contemporary historian Polybius, it was the people who had the final say regarding the election of magistrates, the enactment of new statutes, the carrying out of capital...

. The Comitia Centuriata, the main legislative body, was divided into 193 voting centuria

Centuria

Centuria is a Latin substantive from the stem centum , denoting units consisting of 100 men. It also denotes a Roman unit of land area: 1 centuria = 100 heredia...

e (centuries). The first two houses (which consisted largely of patricians) together had 98 centuriae, a number which was enough to obtain a majority, despite the fact that they were fewer in number. That meant that if the patricians acted in concord, they could always determine the result of the voting of the people's assembly. So, although it was not forbidden for plebeians

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

 to hold magistracies

Roman Magistrates

The Roman Magistrates were elected officials in Ancient Rome. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the principal executive magistrate. His power, in practice, was absolute. He was the chief priest, lawgiver, judge, and the sole commander of the army...

, the patricians dominated the political scene for centuries.

In the beginning of the Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

, all priesthoods were closed to non-patricians. There was a belief that patricians communicated better with the Roman gods

Religion in ancient Rome

Religion in ancient Rome encompassed the religious beliefs and cult practices regarded by the Romans as indigenous and central to their identity as a people, as well as the various and many cults imported from other peoples brought under Roman rule. Romans thus offered cult to innumerable deities...

, so they alone could perform the sacred rites and take the auspices. This view had political consequences, since in the beginning of the year or before a military campaign, Roman magistrates used to consult the gods. Livy reports that the first admission of plebeians into a priestly college happened in 300 BC

300 BC

Year 300 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Corvus and Pansa...

 when the college of Augurs raised their number from four to nine. After that, plebeians were accepted into the other religious colleges, and by the end of the Republic, only minor priesthoods with little political importance like the Salii

Salii

In ancient Roman religion, the Salii were the "leaping priests" of Mars supposed to have been introduced by King Numa Pompilius. They were twelve patrician youths, dressed as archaic warriors: an embroidered tunic, a breastplate, a short red cloak , a sword, and a spiked headdress called an apex...

, the Flamines

Flamen

In ancient Roman religion, a flamen was a priest assigned to one of fifteen deities with official cults during the Roman Republic. The most important three were the flamines maiores , who served the three chief Roman gods of the Archaic Triad. The remaining twelve were the flamines minores...

 and the Rex Sacrorum

Rex Sacrorum

In ancient Roman religion, the rex sacrorum was a senatorial priesthood reserved for patricians. Although in the historical era the pontifex maximus was the head of Roman state religion, Festus says that in the ranking of priests, the rex sacrorum was of highest prestige, followed by the flamines...

 were exclusively filled by patricians.

In the list of the names of the Romans who held magistracies (the Fasti

Fasti

In ancient Rome, the fasti were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events...

), very few plebeian names appear before the 2nd century BC. The turning point were two laws, the Lex Licinia Sextia

Lex Licinia Sextia

Lex Licinia Sextia was a Roman law introduced around 376 BCE and enacted in 367 BCE. It restored the consulship, allegedly reserved one of the two consular positions for a plebeian , and introduced new limits on the possession of conquered land.- Authors :It is named for the plebeian tribunes Gaius...

 of 367 BC

367 BC

Year 367 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Cossus, Maluginensis, Macerinus, Capitolinus, Cicurinus and Poplicola...

 that ascertained the right of plebeians to hold the consulship, and the Genucian law

Leges Genuciae

Leges Genuciae were laws proposed in 342 BC by plebeian consul Lucius Genucius.These laws banned lending that carried interest , holding two magistrates at the same time or repeated holding of office within 10 years...

 of 342 BC

342 BC

Year 342 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Ahala and Rutilus...

 that made it compulsory that at least one of the consuls be a plebeian.

The ancient patrician gentes whose members appear in founding legends of Rome disappeared as Rome started becoming an empire and new plebeian families rose to prominence, such as the Decii and the Sempronii. Families such as the Horatii, Lucretii, Verginii and Menenii seem to vanish after the 2nd century BC. Others, such as the Julii reappear only at the end of the Republic. There are some cases where the same gens name was shared by patrician and plebeian clans (for example the Appii Claudii were patricians and the Claudii Marcelli were plebeians).

Patricians vs. Plebeians

The distinction between patricians and plebeians in Ancient Rome was based purely on birth. Although modern writers often portray patricians as rich and powerful families who managed to secure power over the less-fortunate plebeian families, most historians argue that this is an over-simplification. As civil rights for plebeians increased during the middle and late Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

, many plebeian families had attained wealth and power while some traditionally patrician families had fallen into poverty and obscurity.

Historian Richard Mitchell states that patrician families were initially those who held positions within the priesthoods, and that the ancient Senate, composed of patricians, was a religious advisory body. The Senate, acting as a council of religious elders, had political power because it was necessary to have their assent on new laws. The priestly class would confirm that the new laws were in keeping with mos maiorum

Mos maiorum

The mos maiorum is the unwritten code from which the ancient Romans derived their social norms. It is the core concept of Roman traditionalism, distinguished from but in dynamic complement to written law. The mos maiorum The mos maiorum ("ancestral custom") is the unwritten code from which the...

and would give their auctoritas

Auctoritas

Auctoritas is a Latin word and is the origin of English "authority." While historically its use in English was restricted to discussions of the political history of Rome, the beginning of phenomenological philosophy in the twentieth century expanded the use of the word.In ancient Rome, Auctoritas...

to the measures that could then be enacted.

Patrician families

The following gentes were regarded as patrician, although they may have had plebeian members or branches.

Aebutia Aebutia (gens) The gens Aebutia was a Roman gens that was prominent during the early Republic. The family was originally patrician, but also had plebeian branches... Aemilia Aquillia Atilia Claudia Cloelia Cornelia Curtia Fabia Foslia

Furia Gegania Genucia Herminia Herminia (gens) The gens Herminia was an ancient patrician house at Rome. Members of the gens appear during the first war between the Roman Republic and the Etruscans, circa 508 BC, and from then to 448 BC... Horatia Horatia (gens) The gens Horatia was an ancient patrician family at Rome. In legend, the gens dates back to the time of Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome. One of its members, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus, was consul suffectus in 509 BC, the first year of the Republic, and again in 507... Julia Lartia Lartia (gens) The gens Lartia, sometimes spelled Larcia or Largia, was a patrician family at Rome, distinguished at the beginning of the Republic through two of its members, Titus Lartius, the first dictator, and Spurius Lartius, the companion of Horatius on the wooden bridge. The name soon after disappears... Lucretia Lucretia (gens) The gens Lucretia was a prominent family of the Roman Republic. Originally patrician, the gens later included a number of plebeian families. The Lucretii were one of the most ancient gentes, and the wife of Numa Pompilius, the second King of Rome, was named Lucretia... Manlia Marcia, cognomen Rex

Menenia Menenia (gens) The gens Menenia was a very ancient and illustrious patrician house at Rome from the earliest days of the Roman Republic to the first half of the 4th century BC. The first of the family to obtain the consulship was Agrippa Menenius Lanatus in 503 BC... Metilia Minucia Mucia Mucia (gens) The gens Mucia was an ancient and noble patrician house at Rome. The gens is first mentioned at the earliest period of the Republic, but in later times the family was known primarily by its plebeian branches.-Origin of the gens:... Nautia Numicia Papiria Pinaria Pollia Postumia Postumia (gens) The gens Postumia was one of the most ancient patrician gentes at Rome. Its members frequently held the highest office of the state, from the banishment of the kings to the downfall of the Republic...

Potitia Potitia (gens) The gens Potitia was one of the most ancient patrician families at Rome. It never attained any historical importance.The story of the Potitii is inextricably intertwined with that of the Pinarii. According to legend, a generation before the Trojan War, Hercules came to Italy, where he was received... Quinctia Quinctilia Romilia Sempronia Sergia Servilia Servilia (gens) The gens Servilia was a patrician family at Rome. The gens was celebrated during the early ages of the Republic, and the names of few gentes appear more frequently at this period in the consular Fasti. It continued to produce men of influence in the state down to the latest times of the Republic,... Sestia Sestia (gens) The gens Sestia was a family at Rome. The gens was originally patrician, but in later times there were also plebeian members. The only member of the family to obtain the consulship under the Republic was Publius Sestius Capitolinus Vaticanus, in 452 BC.-Origin of the gens:The nomen Sestius is... Siccia Sulpicia

Tarpeia Tarquinia Tarquitia Tullia Valeria Valerius Valerius is the nomen of gens Valeria, one of the oldest patrician families of Rome. The name was in use throughout Roman history... Verginia Verginia (gens) The gens Verginia or Virginia was a prominent family at Rome, which from an early period was divided into patrician and plebeian branches. The gens was of great antiquity, and frequently filled the highest honors of the state during the early years of the Republic... Veturia Veturia (gens) The gens Veturia, anciently called Vetusia, was a patrician family at Rome, which also had plebeian branches. The patrician branch was of great antiquity; according to tradition, one of their number, Mamurius Veturius, lived in the time of Numa Pompilius, and made the sacred ancilia.The Veturii... Vitellia Volumnia

A number of other gentes originally belonged to the patricians, but were known chiefly from their plebeian branches.

• Antonia
  Antonia (gens)
  The gens Antonia was a Roman family of great antiquity, with both patrician and plebeian branches. The first of the gens to achieve prominence was Titus Antonius Merenda, one of the second group of Decemviri called, in 450 BC, to help draft what became the Law of the Twelve Tables.-Origin of the...
  
  
• Cassia
• Cominia
• Curiatia
• Hostilia
  Hostilia (gens)
  thumb|250px|Tullus Hostilius defeating the army of [[Veii]] and [[Fidenae]], modern fresco.The gens Hostilia was an ancient family at Rome, which traced its origin to the time of Romulus. The most famous member of the gens was Tullus Hostilius, the third King of Rome; however, all of the Hostilii...
  
  
• Junia
• Marcia, with the cognomen Censorinus or Philippus

Gentes maiores et minores

Among the patricians, certain families were known as the gentes maiores, the greatest or perhaps the most noble houses. The other patrician families were called the gentes minores. Whether this distinction had any legal significance is not known, but it has been suggested that the princeps senatus, or Speaker of the Senate, was traditionally chosen from the gentes maiores.

No list of the gentes maiores has been discovered, and even their number is entirely unknown. It has been suggested that the Aemilii, Claudii, Cornelii, Fabii, Manlii, and Valerii were amongst them. The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary.- Characteristic :...

 suggests that the gentes maiores consisted of those families that had settled at Rome in the time of Romulus

Romulus

- People:* Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome* Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor* Valerius Romulus , deified son of the Roman emperor Maxentius* Romulus , son of the Western Roman emperor Anthemius...

, or at least before the destruction of Alba Longa

Alba Longa

Alba Longa – in Italian sources occasionally written Albalonga – was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome in the Alban Hills. Founder and head of the Latin League, it was destroyed by Rome around the middle of the 7th century BC. In legend, Romulus and Remus, founders of...

. The noble Alban families which settled at Rome in the time of Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius

Tullus Hostilius was the legendary third of the Kings of Rome. He succeeded Numa Pompilius, and was succeeded by Ancus Marcius...

 then formed the nucleus of the gentes minores; these included the Tulii, Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii, and Cloelii.

However, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities suggests that the Alban families were also included amongst the gentes maiores, and that the gentes minores consisted of the families admitted to the patriciate under the Tarquins

King of Rome

The King of Rome was the chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 BC, when the last king was overthrown. These kings ruled for...

 and in the early years of the Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. In any case, the distinction cannot have been based entirely on priority, because the Claudii did not arrive at Rome until after the expulsion of the Etruscan kings.

Late Roman and Byzantine periods

Patrician status still carried a degree of prestige at the time of the early Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, and Roman emperors routinely elevated their supporters to the patrician caste en masse. The prestige and meaning of the status gradually degraded, and by the end of the 3rd-century crisis

Crisis of the Third Century

The Crisis of the Third Century was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressures of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression...

, patrician status, as it had been known in the Republic, ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The Emperor Constantine

Constantine I

Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...

 reintroduced the term as the empire's senior honorific title, not tied to any specific administrative position, and from the first limited to a very few men. The historian Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...

 even states that in Constantine's time, the holders of the title ranked above the praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect was the title of a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides...

s. In the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

, the title was sparingly used and retained its high prestige, being awarded, especially in the 5th century, to the powerful magistri militum

Magister militum

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...

who dominated the state, such as Stilicho

Stilicho

Flavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of Vandal birth. Despised by the Roman population for his Germanic ancestry and Arian beliefs, Stilicho was in 408 executed along with his wife and son...

, Constantius III

Constantius III

Flavius Constantius , commonly known as Constantius III, was Western Roman Emperor for seven months in 421. A prominent general and politician, he was the power behind the throne for much of the 410s, and in 421 briefly became co-emperor of the Western Empire with Honorius.- Early life and rise to...

, Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius

Flavius Aëtius , dux et patricius, was a Roman general of the closing period of the Western Roman Empire. He was an able military commander and the most influential man in the Western Roman Empire for two decades . He managed policy in regard to the attacks of barbarian peoples pressing on the Empire...

, Boniface, and Ricimer

Ricimer

Flavius Ricimer was a Germanic general who achieved effective control of the remaining parts of the Western Roman Empire, during the middle of the 5th century...

. In the East Theodosius II

Theodosius II

Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...

 also barred the eunuchs from holding it, although this restriction had been overturned by the 6th century. Under Justinian I

Justinian I

Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...

 (r. 527-565), the title proliferated and was consequently somewhat devalued, as the emperor opened it up to all those above illustris

Vir illustris

The title vir illustris is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople...

rank, i.e. the majority of the Senate

Byzantine Senate

The Byzantine Senate or Eastern Roman Senate was the continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries but was increasingly irrelevant until its eventual disappearance in the 13th century....

.

In the 8th century, the title was further lowered in the court order of precedence, coming after the magistros and the anthypatos

Anthypatos

Anthypatos is the translation in Greek of the Latin proconsul. In the Greek-speaking East, it was used to denote this office in Roman and early Byzantine times, surviving as an administrative office until the 9th century...

. However it remained one of the highest in the imperial hierarchy until the 11th century, being awarded to the most important stratēgoi

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

(provincial governors and generals) of the Empire. The eunuch patrikioi enjoyed higher precedence, coming before even the anthypatoi. According to the late 9th-century Klētorologion

Kletorologion

The Klētorologion of Philotheos , is the longest and most important of the Byzantine lists of offices and court precedence . It was published in September of 899 during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise by the otherwise unknown prōtospatharios and atriklinēs Philotheos...

, the insignia of the dignity were ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 inscribed tablets. During the 11th century, the dignity of patrikios followed the fate of other titles: extensively awarded, it lost in status, and disappeared during the Komnenian period in the early 12th century. The title of prōtopatrikios ("first patrician") is also evidenced in the East from 367 to 711, possibly referring to the senior-most holder of the office and leader of the patrician order (taxis). The feminine variant patrikia (πατρικία) denoted the spouses of patrikioi; it is not to be confused with the title of zostē patrikia

Zoste patrikia

Zōstē patrikia was a Byzantine court title reserved exclusively for women. A very high title, its holder ranked as the first woman after the empress herself in the imperial court.-History and functions:...

("girded patrikia"), which was a unique dignity conferred on the ladies-in-waiting of the empress.

The patrician title was occasionally used in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire; for instance, Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II

Pope Stephen II was Pope from 752 to 757, succeeding Pope Zachary following the death of Pope-elect Stephen. Stephen II marks the historical delineation between the Byzantine Papacy and the Frankish Papacy.-Allegiance to Constantinople:...

 granted the title "Patricius of the Romans" to the Frankish ruler Pepin III. The revival of patrician classes in medieval Italian republics

Italian city-states

The Italian city-states were a political phenomenon of small independent states mostly in the central and northern Italian peninsula between the 10th and 15th centuries....

, and also north of the Alps, is covered in Patricianship

Patricianship

Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a class of patrician families whose members were the only people allowed to exercise many political functions...

.

Sources

• Kurt Raaflaub, ed. Social Struggles in Archaic Rome: New Perspectives on the Conflict of the Orders (Blackwell Publishing
  Blackwell Publishing
  Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley's Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publishing, after Wiley took over Blackwell Publishing in...
  
  , 2005)
• Gary Forsythe, 2005, A Critical History of Early Rome. University of California Press.
• Kenny Zeng, 2007, A History Of Ancient and Early Rome