The two main social orders in ancient Rome were the patricians and the plebeians. The two were in a political struggle lasting for more than 200 years. In the beginning, the patricians were supposed to have enjoyed a monopoly of power, while the plebeians began with nothing except the right to vote in the assemblies. During the course of the struggle the plebeians, however, were believed to have won concessions gradually from the patricians through political agitation and confrontation, and they eventually attained legal equality with them.