An aristocrat is a person of the highest social class of a society. In many places, aristocrats have hereditary titles. In some societies such as Ancient Greece, Rome, and India, aristocratic status may come from membership in a military caste. It has also been very common for aristocrats to belong to priestly dynasties.
Aristocratic status can involve feudal or legal privileges.[1] They are usually below only the monarch of a country or nation in its social hierarchy. In modern era European societies, the term aristocracy has often been used synonymously with the nobility. This was a specific class that arose in the Middle Ages. The term aristocracy derives from the Greek ἀριστοκρατία (aristokratia ἄριστος (aristos) "excellent," and κράτος (kratos) "power".[2]
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