<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In the Roman Kingdom and the early Roman Republic the most important division in Roman society was between the patricians and the plebeians . The patricians were a small elite whose ancestry was traced to the first Senate established by Romulus, who monopolised political power . The plebeians comprised the majority of Roman citizens (see below). Adult males who were not Roman citizens, whether free or slave, fall outside this division . Women and children were also not citizens, but took the social status of their father or husband, which granted them various rights and protections not available to the women and children of men of lower rank . </P> <P> The distinction between patricians and plebeians in Ancient Rome was based purely on birth . Although modern writers often portray patricians as rich and powerful families who managed to secure power over the less - fortunate plebeian families, plebeians and patricians among the senatorial class were equally wealthy . As civil rights for plebeians increased during the middle and late Roman Republic, many plebeian families had attained wealth and power while some traditionally patrician families had fallen into poverty and obscurity . The first Roman Emperor, Augustus, was of plebeian origin, as were many of his successors . By the Late Empire, few members of the Senate were from the original patrician families, most of which had died out . Rome continued to have a hierarchical class system, but it was no longer dominated by the distinction between patricians and plebeians . </P>

Who formed the highest social class of republican and early imperial rome