The Roman social hierarchy split the population into two orders: the patricians and the plebians. Patricians were a small group of the most aristocratic families and plebians were the rest of the citizens. In the republic’s early centuries, turmoil over political and legal power sparked tension between the two orders. However, in 287 B.C.E the plebians forced the patricians to grant them the right to make laws in their own assembly. Patricians made up a small percentage of the population, only about 130 families.
The patron-client system was very popular in early Roman society. It was an interlocking network of personal relationships that obligated people to one another. A patron was a man of superior status who could provide benefits to lower status people who paid him special attention. The lower status people were his clients, who in return owed him duties.
Elected officials ran Roman republican government. The highest officials were called consuls and two were elected each......

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Title: Roman Republic
Approximate Word Count: 589
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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