Caillan Davenport. A History of the Roman Equestrian Order

For most of its millennium-long history, ancient Rome was characterized by a steep and stratified sociopolitical order, articulated both by formal designations of juridical rank and by informal markers of social status. The equestrian order provides one key to understanding how this complex hierarchy actually worked. As a second-tier aristocratic stratum, it occupied the fulcrum between the senatorial aristocracy, which sat at the apex of Roman society, and the upwardly mobile municipal elites of Italy and the provinces. The structural significance of the equestrian order is clear enough, but its composition, functions, and collective identity were highly variegated and evolved considerably over time. It is not surprising, then, that there has been no comprehensive monograph dedicated to the equestrian order since Arthur Stein’s 1927 Der römische Ritterstrand. Caillan Davenport’s magnificent new book, A History of the Roman Equestrian Order, fills this gap by providing a synthetic account of the equestrian order from its origins in the archaic period through its transformation and ultimate dissolution in the later Roman Empire.

Ancient history · Aristocracy (class) · Art · Clan · Empire · Genealogy · Hierarchy · Identity (music) · Medieval history · Order (exchange) · Period (music) · Political science · Politics · Roman Empire · Social order · Sociology · Stratum · Anthropology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Studies and Legal History · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Law