The social stratifications of both societies had some similarities, but overall they were very different. Social stratification in both societies was determined primarily by birth, similar to the caste system, with almost no social mobility. The ancient Greeks had 4 social classes; the Athenians, who were the highest class, had all the political power and were the richest, to be part of this social class you had to be born in Athens, because the rights for the class could only be inherited hereditarily. There were the Metics, the middle class, who were people who were not from Athens, but came there to settle, were not slaves, and had few rights compared to the upper class. There were the Freemen, who were a little taller than the lower class, but not even part of the middle class. These people were slaves but were freed somehow by their owners, they were not Athenians, they had no right to citizenship, no matter how much they earned, and they could never have been part of the middle class. Finally there were the slaves, the absolute lowest class, or level, as the Greeks did not consider it a “class”. They were people who were rescued from war, claimed as slaves as children sold into slavery by their parents (usually women), or kidnapped into slavery. Even people of the lower classes had one or two slaves. They had virtually no rights, but could gain freedom through a number of different means, such as being paid by a friend or relative, paying for their freedom, being released by their master, etc. the social stratification of the Roman Republic was divided into two classes, which were in turn divided into other smaller classes. The upper class was that of the patricians. The Patricians were born in Rome, had Roman blood and were rich, they all came from ancient Roman families. Within the patrician class there were two classes, the senators and the equites. The Senators were the noble class and all political and royal families fell into this category. The Equites were the economic class, they were below the senatorial class and performed tasks that the senatorial class could not, they were mostly knights. Under the Patricians there were the Plebeians, the Plebeians were the poor class, it was made up of artisans, shopkeepers and owners of small farms, the plebeians could not marry the patricians.