patrician
patrician (p[schwa]-trish-[schwa]n), n. Roman law. One of a privileged class of Roman citizens, as contrasted with plebeians. • Originally the rank was probably only by birth. They monopolized all the priesthoods and their class was probably defined by religious prerogatives, but membership in the senate was not confined to patricians. They lost their monopolies by B.C. 300, but one consul continued to be a patrician, and they held at least half the priestly offices. Emperors could and did confer patrician status on favored individuals. The hereditary patricians disappeared in the third century A.D., but later emperors revived the title as a personal honor for faithful service.
