Fun Fact #308 Beware the Plebs

 Fun Fact #308

Beware the Plebs

In Rome, if you weren’t a Patrician (Related to a senator) or a slave then chances were you belonged to one of the 43 clans called “The Plebeians”. The clans were represented by the law of Twelve Tables creating the Republic period of Rome. Over time however disputes between Clans and Senatorial Houses would evolve into violence with Senators using political gangs to spread fear among their opponents. Culminating in Pompey The Great (Pompey Magnus) eliminating the gangs and making the Cohortes to ensure no similar groups formed. Then Caesar Augustus converted the Republic into an Empire and made the term Plebeian now refer to any free man on the Italian Peninsula. 

Today the term Plebeian is used for Freshmen in the US and Philippine Military academies. 

Patricians walking through a crowd of Plebians from: SocialStudiesForKids.com