Historiae Romanorum

Equestrians

In Rome, this was a class of wealthy families who lacked the prestige of the traditional ruling class, the patricians.  As their name suggests, the equestrian class began as a group of men wealth enough to afford to ride a horse into battle.  For the kings, the comprised the cavalry wing of the Roman army.  Later, however, Equestrians lost their military function but the name continued to be used to describe this wealthy social class.

Source(s):

1. Livy.  Ab Urbe Condita.

This page was last updated on July 21, 2004.