View source for Plebeians

{{Short description|General body of free Roman citizens}}
{{Other uses|Plebs (spider)|Plebs (TV series){{!}}''Plebs'' (TV series)}}
{{Ancient Rome and the fall of the Republic}}

[[File:Sale bread MAN Napoli Inv9071 n01.jpg|thumb|Distributing bread to plebeians]]

In [[ancient Rome]], the '''plebeians''' or '''plebs<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Desk Encyclopedia of World History |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7394-7809-7 |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=Edmund |location=New York |pages=507}}</ref>''' were the general body of free [[Roman citizens]] who were not [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]], as determined by the [[Capite censi|census]], or in other words "[[commoner]]s". Both classes were hereditary.

==Etymology==
The precise origins of the group and the term are unclear, but may be related to the Greek, ''plēthos'', meaning masses.{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}}

In Latin, the word {{wikt-lang|la|plebs}} is a [[grammatical number|singular]] [[collective noun]], and its [[genitive]] is {{lang|la|plebis}}.  Plebeians were not a monolithic social class.

==In ancient Rome==
{{further|Social class in ancient Rome}}

In the annalistic tradition of [[Livy]] and [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysius]], the distinction between patricians and plebeians was as old as Rome itself, instituted by [[Romulus]]' appointment of the first hundred senators, whose descendants became the patriciate.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=157}} Modern hypotheses date the distinction "anywhere from the regal period to the late fifth century" BC.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=157}} The 19th-century historian [[Barthold Georg Niebuhr]] believed plebeians were possibly foreigners immigrating from [[ancient peoples of italy|other parts of Italy]].{{sfn|Cornell|1995|p=242}} This hypothesis, that plebeians were racially distinct from patricians, however, is not supported by the ancient evidence.{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}}<ref>Cf {{harvnb|Cornell|1995|p=244|ps=. "That anyone could ever have thought that the Conflict of the Orders arose from a primordial division of the community into two ethnic groups is almost beyond belief".}}</ref> Alternatively, the patriciate may have been defined by their monopolisation of hereditary priesthoods that granted ''ex officio'' membership in the senate.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|pp=167–68}} Patricians also may have emerged from a nucleus of the rich religious leaders who formed themselves into a closed elite after accomplishing the [[Overthrow of the Roman monarchy|expulsion of the kings]].{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=251–52}}

In the early [[Roman Republic]], there are attested 43 clan names, of which 10 are plebeian with 17 of uncertain status.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=157}} 

There existed an aristocracy of wealthy families in the regal period, but "a clear-cut distinction of ''birth'' does not seem to have become important before the foundation of the Republic".{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}} The literary sources hold that in the early Republic, plebeians were excluded from [[Roman Magistrates|magistracies]], religious [[Roman collegia|colleges]], and the [[Roman Senate|Senate]].{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}} However, some scholars doubt that patricians monopolised the magistracies of the early republic, as plebeian names appear in the lists of Roman magistrates back to the fifth century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=151}} It is likely that patricians, over the course of the first half of the fifth century, were able to close off high political office from plebeians and exclude plebeians from permanent social integration through marriage.{{sfn|Cornell|1995|pp=255–56}}

Plebeians were enrolled into the ''curiae'' and the tribes; they also served in the army and also in army officer roles as ''tribuni militum''.{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}}

===Conflict of the Orders===
{{Main|Conflict of the Orders}}

The Conflict of the Orders ({{langx|la|ordo}} meaning "social rank") refers to a struggle by plebeians for full political rights from the patricians.{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=146}} According to Roman tradition, shortly after the establishment of the Republic, plebeians objected to their exclusion from power and exploitation by the patricians. The plebeians were able to achieve their political goals by a series of secessions from the city: "a combination of mutiny and a strike".{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=147}}

Ancient Roman tradition claimed that the Conflict led to laws being published, written down, and given open access starting in 494 BC with the law of the [[Twelve Tables]], which also introduced the concept of equality before the law, often referred to in Latin as ''libertas'', which became foundational to republican politics.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=48}} This succession also forced the creation of [[plebeian tribunes]] with authority to defend plebeian interests.{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=146}} Following this, there was a period of [[consular tribunes]] who shared power between plebeians and patricians in various years, but the consular tribunes apparently were not endowed with religious authority.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=49}} In 445 BC, the ''[[lex Canuleia]]'' permitted intermarriage among plebeians and patricians.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=45}}

There was a radical reform in 367–6&nbsp;BC, which abolished consular tribunes and "laid the foundation for a system of government led by two consuls, shared between patricians and plebeians"{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=50}} over the religious objections of patricians, requiring at least one of the consuls to be a plebeian.{{sfn|Beard|2015|pp=148, 151}} And after 342&nbsp;BC, plebeians regularly attained the consulship.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=51}} [[Debt bondage]] was abolished in 326, freeing plebeians from the possibility of slavery by patrician creditors.{{sfn|Beard|2015|pp=147–48}} By 287, with the passage of the ''[[lex Hortensia]]'', plebiscites – or laws passed by the ''[[concilium plebis]]'' – were made binding on the whole Roman people.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=52}} Moreover, it banned senatorial vetoes of plebeian council laws.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historydaily.org/when-the-peasants-went-on-strike-ancient-romes-secessions-of-the-plebs|title=Secession of the Plebs: When the Peasants Went on Strike|last=Harris|first=Karen|website=History Daily|language=en|access-date=2020-04-15|archive-date=2020-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524051634/https://historydaily.org/when-the-peasants-went-on-strike-ancient-romes-secessions-of-the-plebs|url-status=live}}</ref>{{vn|date=April 2021}} And also around the year 300&nbsp;BC, the priesthoods also were shared between patricians and plebeians, ending the "last significant barrier to plebeian emancipation".{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=52}}

The veracity of the traditional story is profoundly unclear: "many aspects of the story as it has come down to us must be wrong, heavily modernised... or still much more myth than history".{{sfn|Beard|2015|pp=150–51}} Substantial portions of the rhetoric put into the mouths of the plebeian reformers of the early Republic are likely imaginative reconstructions reflecting the late republican politics of their writers.{{Sfn|Beard|2015|p=151}} Contradicting claims that plebs were excluded from politics from the fall of the monarchy, plebeians appear in the consular lists during the early fifth century&nbsp;BC.{{Sfn|Beard|2015|p=151}} The form of the state may also have been substantially different, with a temporary ad hoc "senate", not taking on fully classical elements for more than a century from the republic's establishment.{{sfn|Beard|2015|p=152}}

===Noble plebeians===
The completion of plebeian political emancipation was founded on a republican ideal dominated by ''[[nobiles]]'', who were defined not by caste or heredity, but by their accession to the high offices of state, elected from both patrician and plebeian families.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=25}} There was substantial convergence in this class of people, with a complex culture of preserving the memory of and celebrating one's political accomplishments and those of one's ancestors.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=39}} This culture also focused considerably on achievements in terms of war and personal merit.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=51}}

Throughout the [[Second Samnite War]] (326–304 BC), plebeians who had risen to power through these social reforms began to acquire the aura of ''{{lang|la|[[nobiles|nobilitas]]}}'' ("nobility", also "fame, renown"), marking the creation of a ruling elite of ''nobiles''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salmon |first=E. T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=boT6HtW5TCQC |title=Samnium and the Samnites |date=1967 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-06185-8 |language=en |page=217 |access-date=2022-02-28 |archive-date=2022-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228052838/https://books.google.com/books?id=boT6HtW5TCQC |url-status=live }}</ref> From the mid-4th century to the early 3rd century BC, several plebeian–patrician "[[Ticket (election)|tickets]]" for the consulship repeated joint terms, suggesting a deliberate political strategy of cooperation.{{sfn|Forsythe|2005|p=269}}

No contemporary definition of ''nobilis'' or ''[[novus homo]]'' (a person entering the nobility) exists; Mommsen, positively referenced by Brunt (1982), said the ''nobiles'' were patricians, patrician whose families had become plebeian (in a conjectural ''transitio ad plebem''), and plebeians who had held curule offices (e.g., dictator, consul, praetor, and curule aedile).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brunt |first=P. A. |date=1982 |title=Nobilitas and Novitas |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/299112 |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=72 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.2307/299112 |jstor=299112 |s2cid=162220741 |issn=0075-4358 |access-date=2021-04-29 |archive-date=2021-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429014009/https://www.jstor.org/stable/299112 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Becoming a senator after election to a quaestorship did not make a man a ''nobilis'', only those who were entitled to a [[curule seat]] were ''nobiles''.{{sfn|Flower|2010|pp=155–6}} However, by the time of [[Cicero]] in the post-Sullan Republic, the definition of ''nobilis'' had shifted.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=156}} Now, ''nobilis'' came to refer only to former consuls and the direct relatives and male descendants thereof.{{sfn|Flower|2010|p=156}} The new focus on the consulship "can be directly related to the many other displays of pedigree and family heritage that became increasingly common after Sulla" and with the expanded senate and number of praetors diluting the honour of the lower offices.{{sfn|Flower|2010|pp=156–57}}

A person becoming ''nobilis'' by election to the consulate was a ''novus homo'' (a new man). [[Gaius Marius|Marius]] and [[Cicero]] are notable examples of ''novi homines'' (new men) in the late Republic,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lintott|first=A. W.|date=1974|title=Review: Novi Homines|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/708820|journal=The Classical Review|volume=24|issue=2|pages=261–263|doi=10.1017/S0009840X00243242|jstor=708820|s2cid=162366274|issn=0009-840X|access-date=2021-04-29|archive-date=2021-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429014006/https://www.jstor.org/stable/708820|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> when many of Rome's richest and most powerful men – such as [[Lucullus]], [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Marcus Crassus]], and [[Pompey]] – were plebeian nobles.

===Later history===
In the later Republic, the term lost its indication of a social order or formal hereditary class, becoming used instead to refer to citizens of lower socio-economic status.{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}} By the early empire, the word was used to refer to people who were not senators (of the empire or of the local municipalities) or [[Equites|equestrians]].{{sfn|Momigliano|Lintott|2012}}

==Life==
Much less is known about the plebeians than the patricians in Ancient Rome, as most could not write, and thus could not record what happened in their daily life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=Plebians|url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/plebians.html |access-date=December 1, 2023 |website=The Roman Empire: In The First Century |publisher=Devillier Donegan Enterprises}}</ref>

===Childhood and education===
The average plebeian did not come into a wealthy family; the politically active ''nobiles'' as a whole comprised a very small portion of the whole population. The average plebeian child was expected to enter the workforce at a young age. 

Education was limited to what their parent would teach them, which consisted of only learning the very basics of writing, reading and mathematics. Wealthier plebeians were able to send their children to schools or hire a private tutor.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://ghsgiglio.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/1/9/40190329/life_as_a_plebeian_in_ancient_rome.pdf|title=Life as a Plebeian|last=Karen|first=Harris|access-date=14 April 2020|archive-date=26 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626162421/https://ghsgiglio.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/1/9/40190329/life_as_a_plebeian_in_ancient_rome.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Family life ===
Throughout Roman society at all levels including plebeians, the ''[[Pater familias|paterfamilias]]'' (oldest male in the family) held ultimate authority over household manners. Sons could have no authority over fathers at any point in their life. Women had a subservient position in the family to fathers and husbands.<ref name=":1" />

===Living quarters===
[[File:OstianInsulae.JPG|thumb|Ruins of {{lang|la|[[Insula (building)|insula]]e}}]]

Plebeians who lived in the cities were referred to as ''plebs urbana''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Mark Everson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2GLAgAAQBAJ |title=Aspects of Roman History 82 BC–AD 14: A Source-based Approach |last2=Swain |first2=Hilary |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2010 |isbn=9781135151607 |pages=15 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Plebeians in ancient Rome lived in three or four-storey buildings called {{lang|la|[[Insula (building)|insula]]}}, apartment buildings that housed many families. These apartments usually lacked running water and heat. These buildings had no bathrooms and was common for a pot to be used.<ref name=":1" /> The quality of these buildings varied. Accessing upper floors was done via a staircase from the street they were built on. Sometimes these were built around a courtyard and of these, some were built around a courtyard containing a cistern. Lower floors were of higher quality while the higher ones were less so. By the beginning of the Roman Empire, the ''insulae'' were deemed to be so dangerous because of a risk to collapse that Emperor Augustus passed a law limiting the height of the buildings to {{Convert|18|m|ft}} but it appeared this law was not closely followed as buildings appeared that were six or seven floors high.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Renshaw |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mRMAQAAQBAJ |title=In Search of the Romans |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2012 |isbn=9781853997488 |pages=162 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Plebeian apartments had frescoes and mosaics on them to serve as decorations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faas |first=Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXGlAr17oekC |title=Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780226233475 |pages=42 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Rents for housing in cities was often high because of the amount of demand and simultaneously low supply.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Schultz |first1=Celia E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQaQDwAAQBAJ |title=A History of the Roman People |last2=Ward |first2=Allen M. |last3=Heichelheim |first3=F. M. |last4=Yeo |first4=C. A. |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2019 |isbn=9781351754705 |quote=Unemployment and underemployment caused hardship for many. Housing was in high demand and short supply. Rents were steep for even the worst accommodations. This situation encourage overcrowding. That, in turn, produced serious health, sanitation, and safety problems. People lived in tightly packed rows of flimsy tabernae, one- or two-story buildings with timber frames and wicker walls open to the street except shutters.}}</ref> Rents were higher in Rome than other cities in Italy along with other provincial cities.<ref name=":1" /> The owner of the insulae did not attend to duties regarding it and instead used an ''insularius'' who was most often an educated slave or a freedman instead. Their job was to collect rent from tenants, manage disputes between individual tenants and be responsible for maintenance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yavetz |first=Z. |date=1958 |title=The Living Conditions of the Urban Plebs in Republican Rome |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41521048 |journal=Latomus |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=515 |jstor=41521048 |quote=The owner of the insula did not attend to it himself. A so called insularius was installed for that purpose, who was often a freedman, or sometimes an educated slave. The insularius was responsible for the maintenance of good order in the house; he would settle disputes between tenants, and collect the rent at fixed times in the year.}}</ref>

Not all plebeians lived in these conditions, as some wealthier plebs were able to live in single-family homes, called a [[domus]].<ref name=":1" /> Another type of housing that existed was [[diversorias]] (lodging houses)<ref name=":0" /> ''[[Taberna]]e'' which were made of timber frames and wicker walls open to streets with the exception of shutters being one to two floors high with tightly packed spaces.<ref name=":3" />

===Attire===
Plebeian men wore a [[tunic]], generally made of wool felt or inexpensive material, with a belt at the waist, as well as sandals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ancient Roman Clothing |url=https://www.vita-romae.com/ancient-roman-clothing.html |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=www.vita-romae.com |archive-date=2023-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113160753/https://www.vita-romae.com/ancient-roman-clothing.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, women wore a long dress called a [[stola]]. Roman fashion trends changed very little over the course of many centuries. However, hairstyles and facial hair patterns changed as initially early plebeian men had beards before a clean shaven look became more popular during the Republican era before having facial hair was popularized again by [[Hadrian|Emperor Hadrian]] in the 2nd century AD. Some plebeian women would wear cosmetics made from charcoal and chalk. Romans generally wore clothes with bright colors and did wear a variety of jewelry.<ref name=":1" />

===Meals===
Since meat was very expensive, animal products such as pork, beef and veal would have been considered a delicacy to plebeians. Instead, a plebeian diet mainly consisted of bread and vegetables. Common flavouring for their food included honey, vinegar and different herbs and spices. A well-known condiment to this day known as [[garum]], which is a fish sauce, was also largely consumed.<ref name=":1" /> Apartments often did not have kitchens in them so families would get food from restaurants and/or bars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plebeians in Ancient Rome |url=https://historylink101.com/2/Rome/roman-plebeians.htm |access-date=December 1, 2023 |website=historylink101.com}}</ref>

=== Recreation and entertainment ===
One popular outlet of entertainment for Roman plebeians was to attend large entertainment events such as gladiator matches, military parades, religious festivals and chariot races. As time went on, politicians increased the number of games in an attempt to win over votes and make the plebeians happy.<ref name=":1" /> A popular dice game among plebeians was called ''alea''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Purcell |first=Nicholas |date=May 1995 |title=Literate Games: Roman Urban Society and the Game of Alea |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/651038 |journal=Past & Present |issue=147 |pages=3–37 |doi=10.1093/past/147.1.3 |jstor=651038 |access-date=December 17, 2023 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Financial status===
Plebeians who resided in urban areas had to often deal with job insecurity, low pay, unemployment and high prices<ref name=":2" /> along with underemployment.<ref name=":3" /> A standard workday lasted for 6 hours although the length of the hours varied as Romans divided the day into 12 daytime hours and 12 nighttime hours; with the hours being determined based on the seasons. Cicero wrote in the late republican period that he estimated the average laborer working in the city of Rome earned 6 1/2 [[Denarius|''denarii'']] a day which was 5 times what a provincial worker would make. By middle of the 1st century AD this number was higher because of inflation but however the high cost of living in the city of Rome kept the value of real wages down.<ref name=":1" />

Some plebeians would sell themselves into slavery or their children in order to have access to wealthy households and to them hopefully advance socially along with getting a chance to have an education. Another way plebeians would try to advance themselves was by joining the military which became easier after the [[Marian reforms]] as soldiers were expected to pay for their own weapons. By joining the military they could get a fixed salary, share of war loot along with a pension and an allotted land parcel.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Milani |first=Maria |date=2017 |title=Plebeians |url=https://mariamilani.com/ancient_rome/plebeians.htm |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=Maria Milani: Ancient Roman History}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=December 2023}} There was also the reward of getting citizenship for non-citizens. Potential recruits needed to meet a variety of requirements as well which included: being male, at least {{Convert|172|cm|ftin}} tall, enlist before one was 35, having a [[letter of recommendation]] and completing training.<ref>{{Cite web |last=de Lima |first=Carolina Rangel |title=Introduction to Legion: life in the Roman army |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/introduction-legion-life-roman-army}}</ref>

==Derivatives==

===United States military academies===
{{See also|Plebe Summer}}

[[File:Marching Plebes USNA.jpg|thumb|Plebes (first-year students) marching in front of [[Bancroft Hall]], [[United States Naval Academy]]]]

In the U.S. military, '''plebes''' are [[freshman|freshmen]] at the [[United States Military Academy|U.S. Military Academy]], [[United States Naval Academy|U.S. Naval Academy]],  [[Valley Forge Military Academy and College]], the [[Marine Military Academy]], the [[United States Merchant Marine Academy|U.S. Merchant Marine Academy]], [[Georgia Military College]] (only for the first [[Academic quarter (year division)|quarter]]), and [[California Maritime Academy]].  

===Philippine Military Academy===
Since the construction of [[Philippine Military Academy]], the system and traditions were programmed the same as the [[United States Military Academy]]. First Year Cadets in PMA are called '''Plebes or ''Plebos''''' (short term for Fourth Class Cadets) because they are still civilian antiques and they are expected to master first the spirit of [[Followership]]. As plebes, they are also expected to become the "working force (force men or '''''"porsmen"''''') in the Corps of Cadets.

===British and Commonwealth usage===
In British, [[Irish English|Irish]], [[Australian English|Australian]], [[New Zealand English|New Zealand]] and [[South African English]], the [[back-formation]] ''pleb'', along with the more recently derived [[adjective|adjectival form]] ''plebby'',<ref name="oedplebby">{{cite web | title = plebby | work = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://www.oed.com/ | access-date = 24 September 2012 | archive-date = 11 January 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080111125659/http://www.oed.com/ | url-status = live }}</ref> is used as a derogatory term for someone considered unsophisticated, uncultured,<ref name="oedpleb">{{cite web | title = pleb | work = Oxford English Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | url = http://www.oed.com/ | access-date = 24 September 2012 | archive-date = 11 January 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080111125659/http://www.oed.com/ | url-status = live }}</ref> or lower class.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Walker|first=Peter|date=2014-11-27|title=Andrew Mitchell and the Plebgate affair explained for non-Brits|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/27/plebgate-andrew-mitchell-explain-non-brits|access-date=2022-02-14|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=2022-02-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210205452/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/27/plebgate-andrew-mitchell-explain-non-brits|url-status=live}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
The British comedy show ''[[Plebs (TV series)|Plebs]]'' followed plebeians during ancient Rome.<ref>{{Citation|title=Plebs (TV Series 2013– ) |via=IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2731624/plotsummary|access-date=2020-04-15|archive-date=2022-08-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220819203542/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2731624/plotsummary|url-status=live}}</ref>

In [[Margaret Atwood]]'s novel ''[[Oryx and Crake]]'', there is a major class divide. The rich and educated live in safeguarded facilities while others live in dilapidated cities referred to as the "pleeblands".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oryx and Crake: Chapter 2 Summary & Analysis |url=https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oryxcrake/section2/page/2/ |access-date=2022-02-28 |website=SparkNotes |language=en |archive-date=2022-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629101838/https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oryxcrake/section2/page/2/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Bread and circuses}}
* {{annotated link|Capite censi|''Capite censi''}}
* {{annotated link|Plebeian Council}}
* {{annotated link|Proletariat}}
* [[Plebgate]] (aka Plodgate or Gategate), a 2012 British political scandal involving the use of the word as a slur

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|15em}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book|last=Beard|first=Mary|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/902661394|title=SPQR: a history of ancient Rome|date=2015|isbn=978-0-87140-423-7|edition=1st|location=New York|oclc=902661394}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cornell |first=Tim |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31515793 |title=The beginnings of Rome |date=1995 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-01596-0 |location=London |oclc=31515793 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Flower|first=Harriet I.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/301798480|title=Roman republics|date=2010|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-14043-8|location=Princeton|oclc=301798480|access-date=2021-04-29|archive-date=2023-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307052328/https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/301798480|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70728478 |title=A critical history of early Rome |date=2005 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-94029-1 |location=Berkeley |oclc=70728478 }}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Momigliano |first1=Arnaldo |last2=Lintott |first2=Andrew |title=plebs |encyclopedia=The Oxford classical dictionary |year=2012 |editor-first1=Simon |editor-last1=Hornblower |editor-first2=Antony |editor-last2=Spawforth |editor-first3=Esther |editor-last3=Eidinow |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |edition=4th |location=Oxford |oclc=959667246 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=1161 }}
* {{Cite book|last=Spielvogel |first=Jackson J. |title=World History: Journey Across Time|year=2008 |author-link=Jackson J. Spielvogel|location=New York|publisher=Glencoe/McGraw-Hill}}
{{Refend}}

{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Plebs
  |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle= }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Ferenczy|first1=Endre|title=From the Patrician State to the Patricio-Plebeian State|date=1976|publisher=A.M. Hakkert|location=Amsterdam}}
* {{cite book|last1=Horsfall|first1=Nicholas|title=The Culture of the Roman Plebs|date=2003|publisher=Duckworth|location=London}}
* {{cite book|last1=Millar|first1=Fergus|title=The Crowd In Rome In the Late Republic|date=2002|publisher=University of Michigan Press|location=Ann Arbor}}
* {{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=Richard E.|title=Patricians and plebeians: The origin of the Roman state|date=1990|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482878|title=Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic|year=2004|last1=Morstein-Marx|first1=Robert|isbn=9780511482878|url=http://elar.uniyar.ac.ru/jspui/handle/123456789/1102}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511482885|title=Plebsand Politics in the Late Roman Republic|year=2001|last1=Mouritsen|first1=Henrik|isbn=9780511482885}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.1002/9780470752753|title=Social Struggles in Archaic Rome|year=2005|isbn=9780470752753|editor1-last=Raaflaub|editor1-first=Kurt A.}}
* {{cite book|last1=Vanderbroeck|first1=Paul J. J.|title=Popular leadership and collective behavior in the late Roman Republic (ca. 80–50 B.C.)|date=1987|publisher=Gieben|location=Amsterdam}}
* {{cite book|last1=Vishnia|first1=Rachel Feig|title=State, Society, and Popular Leaders In Mid-Republican Rome 241–167 BC|date=1996|publisher=Routledge|location=London}}
* {{cite book|doi=10.3998/mpub.15992|title=The Laws of the Roman People|year=2005|last1=Williamson|first1=Caroline|isbn=9780472110537}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|pleb}}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Plebs.html Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, article ''Plebs'']
* [https://www.livius.org/articles/concept/plebs/ Livius.org: Plebs]
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
** {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Plebeians |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Plebeians |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Plebs |short=x |noicon=x}}
}}

{{Social class}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Social classes in ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Social history of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Class-related slurs]]
[[Category:Social divisions]]