Aristocracies
M.I. Finley, 22 December 1983
Death and Renewal. Sociological Studies in Roman History: Vol. II
by Keith Hopkins.
Cambridge, 276 pp., £19.50, May 1983,0 521 24991 0 Show More
by Keith Hopkins.
Cambridge, 276 pp., £19.50, May 1983,
“... was de facto, not de jure: there were no hereditary titles, no peerage in the formal sense. The main offices of state, in which there was no distinction between civilian and military posts, were monopolised by the aristocracy, except when they themselves sponsored ‘new men’ for admission, the most famous, or at least the most self-advertised, of whom ... ”