The civitas was an organised community organised on the basis of a network of social relationships, with institutions of self-government, and collective religious and recreational activities. Citizens were aware that they belonged to a civic body. At the top of the social scale was the elite that held economic power and controlled the apparatus of government. Below them was a large group of urban plebeians consisting of freedmen and women. Slaves were deemed to be the property of their masters and mistresses. This hierarchy is reflected in the types of house that range from the domus, luxury residences, to the insulae, or blocks of modest apartments.