What was the lowest social class in Ancient Rome? The lowest social class? Which time period are you talking about? Do you mean the lowest social class of free people or the lowest social class period?
I would say that the absolute lowest social class that was in the Roman Empire were the slaves and cons forced to work in the mines. The conditions in ancient Greek and Roman mines were absolutely horrendous. They were extremely hot, confined, dark, and dangerous. The ancient Greek chronicler Diodoros Sikeliotes( livedc. 90 –c. 30 BC), who lived before the Roman Empire, describes the plight of similar slaves in his with shocking honesty
“ But to continue with the mines, the slaves who are engaged in the working of them produce for their masters earnings in summations defying belief, but they themselves wear out their bodies both by day and by night in the diggings under the earth, dying in large numbers because of the exceptional adversities they endure.
For no respite or pause is granted them in their labors, but impelled beneath blows of the overseers to endure the strictness of their plight, they throw down their lives in this wretched manner, although certain of them who can endure it, by virtue of their fleshly strength and their persisting souls, suffer analogous adversities over a long period; indeed death in their eyes is further to be asked than life, because of the magnitude of the adversities they must bear. ”
On a tolled above the slaves who worked in the mines were the chattel slaves, whose condition varied depending on what kind of master they had. Some slaves were oppressively manhandled and beaten on a regular base; others were treated fairly. Some were indeed given positions managing their masters ’ homes or training their masters ’ children.
On a tolled above the chattel slaves were the privately- held slaves who worked as officers, registers, and accountants. These slaves generally had it fairly well out. To an extent, you could argue that they were maybe better off than your average poor free person because, indeed though they were still slaves, they had decent jobs and security.
The lowest class of free people were poor non- citizens who lived throughout the Empire. These people were free but they had no citizenship, and they were poor. fanon- citizens were on a advanced tolled socially. also, after them, you had poor Roman citizens.
