Urban social structures in the Roman world

This chapter discusses urban social structures in the Roman world, exploring three key axes of social distinction in the public sphere: sociopolitical status, legal status, and gender. The chapter starts with the epigraphic record of towns in Roman Italy and the Latin-speaking parts of the Roman Empire. It highlights how wealth was a key factor in determining social standing within urban communities and how it negotiated access to some well-defined status groups, which included the (Imperial) senatorial and equestrian elite, the (local) decurial elite, and those who were member of private, professional, or religious associations. The second axis of distinction – legal status – divides the inhabitants of a city into citizens and noncitizens and free-born, freed, and enslaved members of the community. The chapter highlights how freedmen, in particular, had a complex social position. Finally, the chapter highlights how women, particularly elite women and freedwomen, played a highly visible and central role in the public life of urban communities of Italy and the Latin-speaking West of the Roman Empire.