Roman Empire

==Society==
{{Further|Ancient Roman society}}
[[File:Pompeii family feast painting Naples.jpg|thumb|A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from [[Pompeii]] (1st century AD)]]

The Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "astonishing cohesive capacity" to create shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=12}} Public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as [[Forum (Roman)|forums]], [[List of Roman amphitheatres|amphitheatres]], [[circus (building)|racetracks]] and [[thermae|baths]]—helped foster a sense of "Romanness".{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=16}}

Roman society had multiple, overlapping [[Social class in ancient Rome|social hierarchies]].{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|p=9}} The civil war preceding Augustus caused upheaval,<ref name="Garnsey">{{Cite book |last1=Garnsey |first1=Peter |title=The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture |last2=Saller |first2=Richard |publisher=University of California Press |pages=107–111}}</ref> but did not effect an immediate [[redistribution of wealth]] and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noreña |first=Carlos F. |title=Imperial Ideals in the Roman West: Representation, Circulation, Power |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=7}}</ref> Personal relationships—[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage]], friendship (''amicitia''), [[Family in ancient Rome|family]], [[Marriage in ancient Rome|marriage]]—continued to influence politics.{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=4–5}} By the time of [[Nero]], however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an [[equestrian order|equestrian]] who exercised greater power than a senator.{{Sfnp|Winterling|2009|pp=11, 21}}

The blurring of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased [[social mobility]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saller |first=Richard P. |title=Personal Patronage under the Early Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=123, 176, 183 |orig-date=1982}}; {{Cite book |last=Duncan |first=Anne |title=Performance and Identity in the Classical World |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=164}}</ref> both upward and downward, to a greater extent than all other well-documented ancient societies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reinhold |first=Meyer |title=Studies in Classical History and Society |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=25ff, 42}}</ref> Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=18}} Social life, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited, was further fostered by a proliferation of [[associations in Ancient Rome|voluntary associations]] and [[confraternity|confraternities]] (''[[collegium|collegia]]'' and ''[[Sodales|sodalitates]]''): professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs,{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=17, 20}} performing troupes,{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|pp=81–82}} and [[burial society|burial societies]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=Maureen |title=Spirits of the Dead: Roman Funerary Commemoration in Western Europe |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=45–46}}</ref>

===Legal status===
{{Main|Status in Roman legal system|Roman citizenship}}

According to the [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]], the essential distinction in the Roman "[[legal personality|law of persons]]" was that all humans were either free (''liberi'') or slaves (''servi'').<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=14}}; [[Gaius (jurist)|Gaius]], ''[[Institutes of Gaius|Institutiones]]'' 1.9 ''Digest'' 1.5.3.</ref> The legal status of free persons was further defined by their citizenship. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ''[[ius Latinum]]'', "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by non-citizens. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, were ''[[peregrinus (Roman)|peregrini]]'', non-Romans.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–32}} In 212, the ''[[Constitutio Antoniniana]]'' extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This legal egalitarianism required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that distinguished between citizens and non-citizens.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=177}}

====Women in Roman law====
{{Main|Women in ancient Rome}}

{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| image1            = Fanciulla intenta alla lettura (IV stile), I sec, da pompei, MANN 8946.JPG
| width1            = 160
| image2            = Bronze young girl reading CdM Paris.jpg
| width2            = 136
| footer            = '''Left:''' Fresco of an [[Auburn hair|auburn]] maiden reading a text, [[Pompeian Styles|Pompeian Fourth Style]] (60–79 AD), [[Pompeii]], Italy<br/>'''Right:''' Bronze statuette (1st century AD) of a young woman reading, based on a [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] original
}}

Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ''ex duobus civibus Romanis natos'' ("children born of two Roman citizens").{{Efn|The ''civis'' ("citizen") stands in explicit contrast to a ''[[Peregrinus (Roman)|peregrina]]'', a foreign or non-Roman woman<ref>{{Citation |last=Sherwin-White |first=A.N. |title=Roman Citizenship |date=1979 |publisher=Oxford University Press |author-link=A. N. Sherwin-White |pages=211, 268}}; {{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–32, 457}}</ref> In the form of legal marriage called ''conubium,'' the father's legal status determined the child's, but ''conubium'' required that both spouses be free citizens. A soldier, for instance, was banned from marrying while in service, but if he formed a long-term union with a local woman while stationed in the provinces, he could marry her legally after he was discharged, and any children they had would be considered the offspring of citizens—in effect granting the woman retroactive citizenship. The ban was in place from the time of Augustus until it was rescinded by [[Septimius Severus]] in 197 AD.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Phang |first=Sara Elise |title=The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.–A.D. 235): Law and Family in the Imperial Army |date=2001 |publisher=Brill |page=2}}; {{Cite book |last=Southern |first=Pat |title=The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=144 |author-link=Pat Southern}}</ref>}} A Roman woman kept her own [[Roman naming conventions|family name]] (''nomen'') for life. Children most often took the father's name, with some exceptions.{{Sfnp|Rawson|1987|p=18}} Women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business.<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=461}}; {{Harvp|Boardman|2000|p=733}}</ref> Inscriptions throughout the Empire honour women as benefactors in funding public works, an indication they could hold considerable fortunes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woodhull |first=Margaret L. |chapter=Matronly Patrons in the Early Roman Empire: The Case of Salvia Postuma |date=2004 |title=Women's Influence on Classical Civilization |publisher=Routledge |page=77}}</ref>

The archaic [[manus marriage|''manus'' marriage]] in which the woman was subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into the marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, but when her father died she became legally emancipated.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=19–20}} This arrangement was a factor in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed compared to many other cultures up to the modern period:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cantarella |first=Eva |title=Pandora's Daughters: The Role and Status of Women in Greek and Roman Antiquity |date=1987 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |pages=140–141 |author-link=Eva Cantarella}}; {{Cite journal |last=Sullivan |first=J.P. |date=1979 |title=Martial's Sexual Attitudes |journal=Philologus |volume=123 |issue=1–2 |doi=10.1524/phil.1979.123.12.288 |page=296 |s2cid=163347317}}</ref> although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in daily life,{{Sfnp|Rawson|1987|p=15}} and her husband had no legal power over her.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=19–20, 22}} Although it was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" (''univira'') who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Divorce|divorce]], nor to speedy remarriage after being widowed or divorced.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Treggiari |first=Susan |title=Roman Marriage: 'Iusti Coniuges' from the Time of Cicero to the Time of Ulpian |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-814939-5 |pages=258–259, 500–502}}</ref> Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=David |title=Roman Law in Context |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=3.3}}; {{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|loc=Ch. IV}}; {{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Yan |chapter=The Division of the Sexes in Roman Law |date=1991 |title=A History of Women from Ancient Goddesses to Christian Saints |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=134}}</ref> A mother's right to own and dispose of property, including setting the terms of her will, gave her enormous influence over her sons into adulthood.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Severy |first=Beth |title=Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Empire |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1-134-39183-8 |page=12}}</ref>
[[File:Wall painting - mistress and three maids - Herculaneum (insula orientalis II - palaestra - room III) - Napoli MAN 9022.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Dressing of a priestess or bride, Roman fresco from [[Herculaneum]], Italy (30–40 AD)]]

As part of the Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, [[Leges Iuliae|moral legislation]] attempted to regulate conduct as a means of promoting "[[family values]]". [[Marriage in ancient Rome#Adultery|Adultery]] was criminalized,{{Sfnp|Severy|2002|p=4}} and defined broadly as an illicit sex act (''[[stuprum]]'') between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband. That is, a [[double standard]] was in place: a married woman could have sex only with her husband, but a married man did not commit adultery if he had sex with a prostitute or person of marginalized status.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGinn |first=Thomas A. J. |date=1991 |title=Concubinage and the Lex Iulia on Adultery |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=121 |doi=10.2307/284457 |pages=335–375 (342)|jstor=284457 }}; {{Cite book |last=Mussbaum |first=Martha C. |chapter=The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic, and Roman |date=2002 |title=The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=305 |author-link=Martha C. Nussbaum}}, noting that custom "allowed much latitude for personal negotiation and gradual social change"; {{Cite book |last=Fantham |first=Elaine |chapter=''Stuprum'': Public Attitudes and Penalties for Sexual Offences in Republican Rome |date=2011 |title=Roman Readings: Roman Response to Greek Literature from Plautus to Statius and Quintilian |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |page=124 |author-link=Elaine Fantham}}, citing [[Papinian]], ''De adulteriis'' I and [[Modestinus]], ''Liber Regularum'' I. {{Cite book |author-link=Eva Cantarella |first=Eva |last=Cantarella |title=Bisexuality in the Ancient World |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2002 |orig-date=1988 (Italian), 1992 |page=104}}; {{Harvp|Edwards|2007|pp=34–35}}</ref> Childbearing was encouraged: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honours and greater legal freedom (the ''[[ius trium liberorum]]'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Grace |first=Angela |date=2015-08-28 |title=Fecunditas, Sterilitas, and the Politics of Reproduction at Rome |url=https://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/items/11ea9842-ee50-4950-ab9f-0ec10232d16f |journal=York Space}}</ref>

====Slaves and the law====
{{Main|Slavery in ancient Rome}}
At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in [[Roman Italy]] were slaves,{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least a fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy.{{Efn|The others are [[Slavery in ancient Greece|ancient Athens]], and in the modern era [[Slavery in Brazil|Brazil]], the [[Slavery in the British and French Caribbean|Caribbean]], and the [[Slavery in the United States|United States]]}}{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=15}} In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Agriculture]] and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on the exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in [[Roman Egypt]] but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|1999|pp=62–75}}; {{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |date=2010 |title=Believing the ancients: Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of slavery and the slave trade in later prehistoric Eurasia |journal=World Archaeology |volume=33 |issue=1 |arxiv=0706.4406 |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 |pages=27–43 |s2cid=162250553}}</ref> Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in the 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=10–16}}</ref>

[[File:Sarcofago avvocato Valerius Petrnianus-optimized.jpg|thumb|Slave holding writing tablets for his master ([[relief]] from a 4th-century sarcophagus)]]
Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate".{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=7}} Slaves were considered property and had no [[Person (law)|legal personhood]]. They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Master-slave relations|sexual exploitation]], torture, and [[summary execution]]. A slave could not as a matter of law be raped; a slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the [[Lex Aquilia|Aquilian Law]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGinn |first=Thomas A.J. |title=Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-516132-7 |page=314}}; {{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Jane F. |title=Women in Roman Law and Society |date=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=119}}</ref> Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called ''[[Marriage in ancient Rome|conubium]]'', but their unions were sometimes recognized.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–33}} Technically, a slave could not own property,{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=21}} but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund (''peculium'') that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gamauf |first=Richard |date=2009 |title=Slaves doing business: The role of Roman law in the economy of a Roman household |journal=European Review of History |volume=16 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/13507480902916837 |pages=331–346 |s2cid=145609520}}</ref> Within a household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|pp=2–3}} Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough ''peculium'' to justify their freedom, or be [[Manumission|manumitted]] for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law (''[[Lex Fufia Caninia]]'') limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=10}}

Following the [[Servile Wars]] of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuhrmann |first=C. J. |title=Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973784-0 |pages=21–41}}</ref> Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes in ancient Rome]] were often slaves.{{Sfnp|McGinn|1998|pp=288ff}} The burgeoning trade in [[eunuch]]s in the late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Castration and circumcision|castration]] of a slave against his will "for lust or gain".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abusch |first=Ra'anan |chapter=Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire |date=2003 |title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite |publisher=Brandeis University Press |pages=77–78}}; {{Cite book |last=Schäfer |first=Peter |title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=150 |orig-date=1983}}</ref>

Roman slavery was not based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]].<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=15}}; {{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Stefan |title=Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Expansion |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0739117262 |volume=1 |page=41 |quote=Roman slavery was a nonracist and fluid system}}</ref> Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |title=Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire |date=2001 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-3523-X |pages=43–44 |author-link=Antonio Santosuosso}}</ref> with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noy |first=David |title=Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers |date=2000 |publisher=Duckworth with the Classical Press of Wales |isbn=978-0-715-62952-9}}</ref> The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harper |first=James |date=1972 |title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=93 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/293259 |pages=341–342|jstor=293259 }}</ref>

During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the [[Greece in the Roman era|conquest of Greece]] brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by [[Cilician pirates|pirates]]. [[Child abandonment|Infant abandonment]] and self-enslavement among the poor were other sources.{{Sfnp|Harris|1999}} ''[[Slavery in ancient Rome#Vernae|Vernae]]'', by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his ''vernae'' faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family.<ref>{{Harvp|Rawson|1987|pp=186–188, 190}}; {{Harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=34, 48–50}}</ref>

====Freedmen====
[[File:DM Tiberius Claudius Chryseros.jpg|thumb|[[Urn#Cremation urns|Cinerary urn]] for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter]]
Rome differed from [[Greek city-states]] in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of a freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom (''libertas''), including the right to vote.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic |date=2002 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=0-472-08878-5 |pages=23, 209 |author-link=Fergus Millar |orig-date=1998}}</ref> His former master became his patron (''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronus]]''): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mouritsen |first=Henrik |title=The Freedman in the Roman World |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=36}}</ref><ref name="berger">{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Adolf |chapter=libertus |date=1991 |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law |publisher=American Philological Society |page=564 |orig-date=1953}}</ref> A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play a [[Augustales|priestly role]]. He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that [[Hadrian]] limited their participation by law.<ref name=berger/> The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of a high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by [[:Commons:Category:Liberti and libertae in Ancient Roman inscriptions|inscriptions throughout the Empire]], and by their ownership of some of the most lavish houses at [[Pompeii]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===Census rank===
{{See also|Senate of the Roman Empire|Equestrian order|Decurion (administrative)}}
The Latin word ''ordo'' (plural ''ordines'') is translated variously and inexactly into English as "class, order, rank". One purpose of the [[Roman census]] was to determine the ''ordo'' to which an individual belonged. The two highest ''ordines'' in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} Outside Rome, the [[decurion (administrative)|decurions]], also known as ''[[curiales]]'', were the top governing ''ordo'' of an individual city.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

[[File:0 Sarcophage d'Acilia - Pal. Massimo alle Terme.JPG|thumb|left|Fragment of a sarcophagus depicting [[Gordian III]] and senators (3rd century)]]
"Senator" was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an [[Executive magistrates of the Roman Empire|executive magistrate]]. A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million ''[[sestertii]]''.<ref>{{Harvp|Boardman|2000|pp=217–218}}; {{Cite book |last=Syme |first=Ronald |title=Provincial at Rome: and Rome and the Balkans 80 BC – AD 14 |date=1999 |publisher=University of Exeter Press |isbn=0-85989-632-3 |pages=12–13 |author-link=Ronald Syme}}</ref> Not all men who qualified for the ''ordo senatorius'' chose to take a Senate seat, which required [[Domicile (law)|legal domicile]] at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in the 600-member body by appointment.<ref>{{Harvp|Boardman|2000|pp=215, 221–222}}; {{Harvp|Millar|2012|p=88|loc=The standard complement of 600 was flexible; twenty [[quaestor]]s, for instance, held office each year and were thus admitted to the Senate regardless of whether there were "open" seats}}</ref> A senator's son belonged to the ''ordo senatorius'', but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=88}}

In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from [[Italy (Roman Empire)|Italy]], with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|pp=218–219}} The first senator from the easternmost province, [[Cappadocia (Roman province)|Cappadocia]], was admitted under Marcus Aurelius.{{Efn|That senator was Tiberius Claudius Gordianus{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=219}}}} By the [[Severan dynasty]] (193–235), Italians made up less than half the Senate.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=MacMullen |first=Ramsay |date=1966 |title=Provincial Languages in the Roman Empire |journal=The American Journal of Philology |volume=87 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/292973 |pages=1–17|jstor=292973 }}</ref> During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland (''patria'').{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=88}}

Senators were the traditional governing class who rose through the ''[[cursus honorum]]'', the political career track, but equestrians often possessed greater wealth and political power. Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, ''equites'' or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors, but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire.{{Efn|The relation of the equestrian order to the "public horse" and Roman cavalry parades and demonstrations (such as the ''[[Lusus Troiae]]'') is complex, but those who participated in the latter seem, for instance, to have been the ''equites'' who were accorded the high-status (and quite limited) seating at the theatre by the ''[[Lex Roscia theatralis]]''. Senators could not possess the "public horse".{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=78–79}}}} A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian.{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=71–72, 76}} The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at [[Cádiz]] and [[Padua]] alone.{{Efn|Ancient Gades, in Roman Spain (now [[Cádiz]]), and Patavium, in the Celtic north of Italy (now [[Padua]]), were atypically wealthy cities, and having 500 equestrians in one city was unusual.<ref>[[Strabo]] 3.169, 5.213</ref>}}{{Sfnp|Wiseman|1970|pp=75–76, 78}} Equestrians rose through a military career track (''[[tres militiae]]'') to become highly placed [[prefect]]s and [[procurator (Roman)|procurators]] within the Imperial administration.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fear |first=Andrew |chapter=War and Society |date=2007 |title=The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare: Rome from the Late Republic to the Late Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-78274-6 |volume=2 |pages=214–215}}; {{Harvp|Bennett|1997|p=5}}</ref>

The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders is an aspect of social mobility in the early Empire. Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later [[European nobility]], a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands.<ref>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=188}}; {{Harvp|Millar|2012|pp=87–88}}</ref> Admission to the higher ''ordines'' brought distinction and privileges, but also responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services (''[[Munera (ancient Rome)|munera]]''). Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=96}} Decurions were so vital for the functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became depleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged to return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liebeschuetz |first=Wolfgang |chapter=The End of the Ancient City |date=2001 |title=The City in Late Antiquity |publisher=Taylor & Francis |pages=26–27}}</ref>

In the later Empire, the ''[[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]]'' ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as ''[[vir illustris]]'' ("illustrious man").{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=90|loc=calls them "status-appellations"}} The appellation ''clarissimus'' (Greek ''lamprotatos'') was used to designate the ''[[Dignitas (Roman concept)|dignitas]]'' of certain senators and their immediate family, including women.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=91}} "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated.{{Sfnp|Millar|2012|p=90}}

====Unequal justice====
[[File:Tunisia-3363 - Amphitheatre Spectacle.jpg|thumb|Condemned man attacked by a leopard in the arena (3rd-century mosaic from Tunisia)]]
As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honours (''honestiores'') and humbler folk (''humiliores''). In general, ''honestiores'' were the members of the three higher "orders", along with certain military officers.<ref name="verb">{{Cite journal |last=Verboven |first=Koenraad |date=2007 |title=The Associative Order: Status and Ethos among Roman Businessmen in Late Republic and Early Empire |url=https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/395187/file/6799583 |journal=Athenaeum |volume=95 |pages=870–872 |hdl=1854/LU-395187 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=3 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103090625/https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/395187/file/6799583 |url-status=live }}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}</ref> The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority affirmed, particularly within the justice system.<ref>{{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}; {{Cite book |last=Perkins |first=Judith |title=Early Christian and Judicial Bodies |date=2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=245–246}}; {{Harvp|Peachin|2011|p=475}}</ref> Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" (''dignitas'') of the defendant: an ''honestior'' could pay a fine for a crime for which an ''humilior'' might receive a [[scourging]].{{Sfnp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}

Execution, which was an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gaughan |first=Judy E. |title=Murder Was Not a Crime: Homicide and Power in the Roman Republic |date=2010 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-72567-6 |page=91}}; {{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=Gordon P. |title=A History of Exile in the Roman Republic |date=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-84860-1 |page=8}}</ref> could be quick and relatively painless for ''honestiores'', while ''humiliores'' might suffer the kinds of torturous death previously reserved for slaves, such as [[crucifixion]] and [[damnatio ad bestias|condemnation to the beasts]].<ref name="fatal">{{Cite journal |last=Coleman |first=K. M. |date=2012 |title=Fatal Charades: Roman Executions Staged as Mythological Enactments |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |volume=80 |doi=10.2307/300280 |pages=44–73 |jstor=300280 |s2cid=163071557}}</ref> In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as ''honestiores'', especially if they declined to fulfil religious responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created the conditions of [[Christian martyrs|martyrdom]].<ref>{{Harvp|Peachin|2011|pp=153–154}}; {{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=O.F. |title=Penal Practice and Penal Policy in Ancient Rome |date=2007 |publisher=Routledge |page=108}}</ref>