Over the course of this period, early forms of public welfare were established by Titus and Trajan and, in difficult times, plebeians could ask Roman administrators for help. We know much less ...

Patrician families made up the ruling class, meaning they were in jobs that had a lot of influence in how Rome and the empire were ruled. The majority of the population were known as plebeians and ...

Roman society also involved a system of patronage. Members of the upper classes – the patroni – offered protection to freedmen or plebeians, who became their "cliens." Patronage might consist ...