The social stratifications of the two societies had some similarities, but were very different overall. Social stratification in both societies was primarily determined by birth, like the caste system, with virtually no social mobility. The ancient Greeks had 4 social classes; the Athens, who were the highest class, they 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 of this class could only be inherited by heredity . There were the Metics, the middle class, who were people who were not originally from Athens, but who came to settle there, they were not slaves and had few rights compared to the upper class . There were the Freemen, who were a little higher than the lower class, but also not middle class. These people were slaves but were somehow freed by their owners, they were not from Athens and were not entitled to citizenship no matter how much money they had. 'they were winning, and they could never be part of the middle class. Finally, there were the slaves, the lowest class of all, or level, since the Greeks did not consider it a "class." These were people rescued from war, claimed as slaves as children sold into slavery by their parents (usually women) or kidnapped into slavery. Even people from the lower classes had one or two slaves. They had virtually no rights, but could obtain their freedom through various means: 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 then divided into other, smaller classes. The upper class was that of the Patricians. The Patricians were born in Rome, had Roman blood and were wealthy, they all came from ancient Roman families. Within the patrician class, there were two classes, the senators and the equites. Senators constituted 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 do, they were mostly knights. Under the Patricians there were the Plebians, the Plebians were the poor class, it was made up of artisans, merchants and owners of small farms, the plebeians could not marry the patricians..