The Gentes Maiores and Aristocratic Competition in Rome (200–134 bce)

Abstract This chapter analyzes the Roman nobility between 200 and 134 bce. Its focus is on the patricians and the gentes maiores, the six “greater clans”: Aemilii, Claudii, Cornelii, Fabii, Manlii, and Valerii. The distinction based on gentes minores and gentes maiores is hard to define, but the powerful gentes maiores constantly maintained their prestige and retained a dominant position in the political life of the second century. For example, the princeps senatus was always a patrician, who had to belong to the gentes maiores. In addition, between 200 and 134 bce, forty-one consuls are from the “greater clans.” The chapter focuses on the power of the patricians and on the relationships between patricians and aristocratic competition.