Social structure: Did you mean...?

Scythian women garnered leadership roles and a raised level of status in their day, which is perhaps without parallel until recent times. While many female figures rose to pivotal roles in history, their rise was not a reflection of systemic...

The society in the Byzantine Empire (4th-15th century CE) was dominated by the imperial family and the male aristocracy but there were opportunities for social advancement thanks to wars, population movements, imperial gifts of lands and...

The Three Estates of pre-revolutionary France were the hierarchical social divisions that structured society under the Ancien Régime (French for "Old Regime," a term coined after the French Revolution to describe the pre-revolutionary system...

Herod's Harbor was a giant port built between 22 and 15 BCE by Herod the Great (r. 37-4 BCE), Rome's client king. Situated on the lower eastern Mediterranean coast north of Alexandria and south of Tyre, with Rome's largess and building skills...

This infographic illustrates the Varna caste system in ancient India. First mentioned in the Rig Veda's Purusha Sukta c. 1200–1000 BCE, it shows society divided into four groups that emerged from the sacrifice of Purusha, a transcendent and...

A representation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, oil on canvas by Jean-Jacques-François Le Barbier, c. 1789. Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

An 1819 painting titled The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull. Various figures such as George Washington are shown presenting the Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies from British rule to Congress. (United States Capitol...

A Roman coin depicting a citizen voting, silver denarius of L. Cassius Longinus, 63 BCE. Archaeological Museum, Tarragona, Spain.

Mycenaean society was strictly hierarchical, valued family lineage, and awarded higher social status to those involved with religious or military activities and palatial administration. The lower classes contained craftsmen and artisans who...

The Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) is considered ancient Egypt's Classical Age during which it produced some of its greatest works of art and literature. Scholars remain divided on which dynasties constitute the Middle Kingdom as some argue...