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The term novus homo (literally, "new man" in Latin), referred in ancient Roman times to a person who was the first of his family to be elected as consul. Originally consulship was restricted to patricians. When plebeians gained the right to this office all the newly elected plebeians were naturally novus homos. As time went by they became more and more rare. By the time of the First Punic War it was already a sensation that new men were elected in two consecutive years (Gaius Fundanius Fundulus in 243 BC and Gaius Lutatius Catulus in 242 BC).
In the Late Republic the distinction between the classes became less important. The consuls came from new elite, the optimates. Optimates were a group of families, patrician or plebeian, that had produced a consul.
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