The Roman triumph ( triumphus ) was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome , held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the success of a military commander who had led Roman forces to victory in the service of the state or, in some historical traditions, one who had successfully completed a foreign war.
208-436: On the day of his triumph, the general wore a crown of laurel and an all-purple, gold-embroidered triumphal toga picta ("painted" toga), regalia that identified him as near-divine or near-kingly. In some accounts, his face was painted red, perhaps in imitation of Rome's highest and most powerful god, Jupiter . The general rode in a four-horse chariot through the streets of Rome in unarmed procession with his army, captives, and
416-405: A Roman triumph "over the infidel." The Emperor followed the traditional ancient route, "past the ruins of the triumphal arches of the soldier-emperors of Rome", where "actors dressed as ancient senators hailed the return of the new Caesar as miles christi ," (a soldier of Christ). The extravagant triumphal entry into Rouen of Henri II of France in 1550 was not "less pleasing and delectable than
624-488: A bay or inlet) appears in the Imperial era as a loose over-fold, slung from beneath the left arm, downwards across the chest, then upwards to the right shoulder. Early examples were slender, but later forms were much fuller; the loop hangs at knee-length, suspended there by draping over the crook of the right arm. The umbo (literally "knob") was a pouch of the toga's fabric pulled out over the balteus (the diagonal section of
832-473: A boy came of age (usually at puberty) he adopted the plain white toga virilis ; this meant that he was free to set up his own household, marry, and vote. Young girls who wore the praetexta on formal occasions put it aside at menarche or marriage, and adopted the stola . Even the whiteness of the toga virilis was subject to class distinction. Senatorial versions were expensively laundered to an exceptional, snowy white; those of lower ranking citizens were
1040-610: A bribe to secure favourable peace terms, which Africanus rejected. At the battle itself, he claimed illness, but was selected to present the Roman peace terms regardless. The credit for the victory accrued to his brother and commander, Lucius. The peace terms presented at Sardis were largely the Roman demands prior to the battle: Antiochus would cede all territory outside the Taurus line (eventually determined to be from Cape Sarpedon in Cilicia through to
1248-404: A case that Scipio's successes resulted from good planning, rational thinking and intelligence, which he said was a higher sign of the gods' favour than prophetic dreams. Polybius suggested that people had only said that Scipio had supernatural powers because they had not appreciated the natural mental gifts which facilitated Scipio's achievements. The Roman historian Valerius Maximus , writing in
1456-454: A client whose patron was another's client, the potential for shame was still worse. Even as a satirical analogy, the equation of togate client and slave would have shocked those who cherished the toga as a symbol of personal dignity and auctoritas – a meaning underlined during the Saturnalia festival, when the toga was "very consciously put aside", in a ritualised, strictly limited inversion of
1664-529: A conqueror of Africa . Scipio's conquest of Carthaginian Iberia culminated in the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC against Hannibal's brother Mago Barca . Although considered a hero by the Roman people, primarily for his victories against Carthage, Scipio had many opponents, especially Cato the Elder , who hated him deeply. In 187 BC, he was tried in a show trial alongside his brother for bribes they supposedly received from
1872-442: A dinner. When the patron left his house to conduct his business of the day at the law courts, forum or wherever else, escorted (if a magistrate) by his togate lictors , his clients must form his retinue. Each togate client represented a potential vote: to impress his peers and inferiors, and stay ahead in the game, a patron should have as many high-quality clients as possible; or at least, he should seem to. Martial has one patron hire
2080-432: A duller shade, more cheaply laundered. Citizenship carried specific privileges, rights and responsibilities. The formula togatorum ("list of toga-wearers") listed the various military obligations that Rome's Italian allies were required to supply to Rome in times of war. Togati , "those who wear the toga", is not precisely equivalent to "Roman citizens", and may mean more broadly " Romanized ". In Roman territories,
2288-402: A fairly standard processional order. First came the captive leaders, allies, and soldiers (and sometimes their families) usually walking in chains; some were destined for execution or further display. Their captured weapons, armour, gold, silver, statuary, and curious or exotic treasures were carted behind them, along with paintings, tableaux, and models depicting significant places and episodes of
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#17328842494842496-598: A foundation for their progress to high civil office (see cursus honorum ). The Romans believed that in Rome's earliest days, its military had gone to war in togas, hitching them up and back for action by using what became known as the " Gabine cinch ". In 206 BC, Scipio Africanus was sent 1,200 togas and 12,000 tunics for his operations in North Africa. As part of a peace settlement of 205 BC, two formerly rebellious Spanish tribes provided Roman troops with togas and heavy cloaks. In
2704-458: A gift to the people of Rome, funded by his spoils. Its gallery and colonnades doubled as an exhibition space and likely contained statues, paintings, and other trophies carried at his various triumphs. It contained a new temple to Pompey's patron goddess Venus Victrix ("Victorious Venus"); the year before, he had issued a coin which showed her crowned with triumphal laurels. Julius Caesar claimed Venus as both patron and divine ancestress; he funded
2912-465: A gigantic portrait-bust of the triumphant general, a thing of "eastern splendor" entirely covered with pearls, anticipating his later humiliation and decapitation. Following Caesar's murder, his adopted son Gaius Octavian assumed the permanent title of imperator and became the permanent head of the Senate from 27 BCE (see principate ) under the title and name Augustus . Only the year before, he had blocked
3120-404: A globe surrounded by triumphal wreaths, symbolising his "world conquest", and an ear of grain to show that his victory protected Rome's grain supply. A notable coin, minted by Lucius Manlius Torquatus, a supporter of Sulla , references Sulla's victory over Mithridates VI of Pontus . This coin depicts a quadriga with Sulla's legend and the general partially visible in his chariot. This established
3328-579: A group of artists including Albrecht Dürer was a series of woodcuts of an imaginary triumph of his own that could be hung as a frieze 54 metres (177 ft) long. In the 1550s, the fragmentary Fasti Triumphales were unearthed and partially restored. Onofrio Panvinio 's Fasti continued where the ancient Fasti left off. The last triumph recorded by Panvinio was the Royal Entry of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V into Rome on April 5, 1536, after his conquest of Tunis in 1535. Panvinio described it as
3536-495: A herd ( grex ) of fake clients in togas, then pawn his ring to pay for his evening meal. The emperor Marcus Aurelius , rather than wear the "dress to which his rank entitled him" at his own salutationes , chose to wear a plain white citizen's toga instead; an act of modesty for any patron, unlike Caligula , who wore a triumphal toga picta or any other garment he chose, according to whim; or Nero , who caused considerable offence when he received visiting senators while dressed in
3744-578: A large painting, showing his siege of Syracuse , the siege engines themselves, captured plate, gold, silver, and royal ornaments, and the statuary and opulent furniture for which Syracuse was famous. Eight elephants were led in the procession, symbols of his victory over the Carthaginians. His Spanish and Syracusan allies led the way wearing golden wreaths; they were granted Roman citizenship and lands in Sicily. In 71 BCE, Crassus earned an ovation for quashing
3952-487: A little way, the failure to replace it is a sign of indifference, or sloth, or sheer ignorance of the way in which clothes should be worn". By the time he had presented his case, the orator was likely to be hot and sweaty; but even this could be employed to good effect. Roman moralists "placed an ideological premium on the simple and the frugal". Aulus Gellius claimed that the earliest Romans, famously tough, virile and dignified, had worn togas with no undergarment; not even
4160-482: A long-sleeved, "effeminate" tunic, or woven too fine and thin, near transparent. Appian 's history of Rome finds its strife-torn Late Republic tottering at the edge of chaos; most seem to dress as they like, not as they ought: "For now the Roman people are much mixed with foreigners, there is equal citizenship for freedmen, and slaves dress like their masters. With the exception of the Senators, free citizens and slaves wear
4368-412: A military career to any Roman citizen or freedman of good reputation. A soldier who showed the requisite "disciplined ferocity" in battle and was held in esteem by his peers and superiors could be promoted to higher rank: a plebeian could achieve equestrian status. Non-citizens and foreign-born auxiliaries given honourable discharge were usually granted citizenship, land or stipend, the right to wear
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#17328842494844576-430: A moral lesson, rather than to provide an accurate description of the triumphal process, procession, rites, and their meaning. This scarcity allows only the most tentative and generalised (and possibly misleading) reconstruction of triumphal ceremony, based on the combination of various incomplete accounts from different periods of Roman history. The origins and development of this honour are obscure. Roman historians placed
4784-471: A more-or-less vestigial balteus then descends to the upper shin. As in other forms, the sinus itself is hung over the crook of the right arm. If its full-length representations are accurate, it would have severely constrained its wearer's movements. Dressing in a toga contabulata would have taken some time, and specialist assistance. When not in use, it required careful storage in some form of press or hanger to keep it in shape. Such inconvenient features of
4992-418: A mortal citizen who triumphed on behalf of Rome's Senate, people, and gods. Inevitably, the triumph offered the general extraordinary opportunities for self-publicity, besides its religious and military dimensions. Most triumphal celebrations included a range of popular games and entertainments for the Roman masses. Most Roman festivals were calendar fixtures, tied to the worship of particular deities. While
5200-506: A mutually competitive oligarchy, reserving the greatest power, wealth and prestige for their class. The commoners who made up the vast majority of the Roman electorate had limited influence on politics, unless barracking or voting en masse , or through representation by their tribunes . The Equites (sometimes loosely translated as "knights") occupied a broadly mobile, mid-position between the lower senatorial and upper commoner class. Despite often extreme disparities of wealth and rank between
5408-546: A new temple to her and dedicated it during his quadruple triumph of 46 BCE. He thus wove his patron goddess and putative ancestress into his triumphal anniversary. Augustus , Caesar's heir and Rome's first emperor, built a vast triumphal monument on the Greek coast at Actium , overlooking the scene of his decisive sea-battle against Antony and Egypt; the bronze beaks of captured Egyptian warships projected from its seaward wall. Imperial iconography increasingly identified Emperors with
5616-426: A patron prepared to commend them. Clients seeking patronage had to attend the patron's early-morning formal salutatio ("greeting session"), held in the semi-public, grand reception room ( atrium ) of his family house ( domus ). Citizen-clients were expected to wear the toga appropriate to their status, and to wear it correctly and smartly or risk affront to their host. Martial and his friend Juvenal suffered
5824-469: A peaceful and largely open interstate system in the aftermath of the Roman proclamation of Greek freedom. It did not help that the cities that he did take had to be taken by force. The consul of 191 BC, Manius Acilius Glabrio , arrived in the spring and promptly defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Thermopylae – Antiochus lost the battle and was forced back across the Aegean to Ephesus within six months of
6032-483: A poor man's "little toga" (both togula ), but the poorest probably had to make do with a shabby, patched-up toga, if he bothered at all. Conversely, the costly, full-length toga seems to have been a rather awkward mark of distinction when worn by "the wrong sort". The poet Horace writes "of a rich ex-slave 'parading from end to end of the Sacred Way in a toga three yards long' to show off his new status and wealth." In
6240-488: A precedent for the Imperial period, where coins often depicted triumphal arches erected by emperors to commemorate their victories. Germanicus ' achievements in Germany in 15-16 CE are depicted on coins showing Tiberius in a quadriga. In Republican tradition, a general was expected to wear his triumphal regalia only for the day of his triumph; thereafter, they were presumably displayed in the atrium of his family home. As one of
6448-505: A quickly-suppressed revolt by Spanish tribes when false rumours of Scipio's death from illness spread, he crossed into Africa to solicit the support of Syphax and thence into western Hispania to meet Massinissa for the same purpose. Syphax pledged loyalty but eventually joined with the Carthaginians; Massinissa, however, joined with the Romans with a small contingent when Syphax expelled him the kingdom of Massylii . Meanwhile, Gades surrendered to
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6656-537: A recitation of Christian prayer and the triumphant generals prostrate before the emperor. During the Renaissance , kings and magnates sought ennobling connections with the classical past. Ghibelline Castruccio Castracani defeated the forces of the Guelph Florence in the 1325 Battle of Altopascio . Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV made him Duke of Lucca , and the city gave him a Roman-style triumph. The procession
6864-470: A request to step down. Cicero, having lost Pompey's ever-wavering support, was driven to exile. In reality, arms rarely yielded to civilian power. During the early Roman Imperial era, members of the Praetorian Guard (the emperor's personal guard as "First Citizen", and a military force under his personal command), concealed their weapons under white, civilian-style togas when on duty in the city, offering
7072-631: A rousing oration detailing his services to the republic and noting that the day is the anniversary of the Battle of Zama. At this notice, he then leads an impromptu procession to sacrifice at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus amid thunderous applause, leaving the prosecutors embarrassed. This story, however, "generates little confidence". The legal troubles proved little trouble for the Scipiones, as evidence by Asiagenes' lavish games in 186 and vigorous campaign for
7280-407: A single piece of fabric, the toga of a high status Roman in the late Republic would have required a piece approximately 12 ft (3.7 m) in length; in the Imperial era, around 18 ft (5.5 m), a third more than its predecessor, and in the late Imperial era around 8 ft (2.4 m) wide and up to 18–20 ft (5.5–6.1 m) in length for the most complex, pleated forms. The toga
7488-697: A skimpy tunic. Towards the end of the Republic, the arch-conservative Cato the Younger favoured the shorter, ancient Republican type of toga; it was dark and "scanty" ( exigua ), and Cato wore it without tunic or shoes; all this would have been recognised as an expression of his moral probity. Die-hard Roman traditionalists deplored an ever-increasing Roman appetite for ostentation, "un-Roman" comfort and luxuries, and sartorial offences such as Celtic trousers, brightly coloured Syrian robes and cloaks. The manly toga itself could signify corruption, if worn too loosely, or worn over
7696-453: A slow walking pace at best, punctuated by various planned stops en route to its final destination of the Capitoline temple, a distance of just under 4 km (2.48 mi). Triumphal processions were notoriously long and slow; the longest could last for two or three days, and possibly more, and some may have been of greater length than the route itself. Some ancient and modern sources suggest
7904-505: A special favourite of heaven and actually communicated with the gods. It is quite possible that he himself honestly shared this belief. However, the strength of this belief is evident, even a generation later when his adopted grandson, Publius Aemilianus Scipio , was elected to the consulship from the office of tribune. His rise was spectacular and letters survive from soldiers under his command in Hispania show that they believed that he possessed
8112-478: A statue". Theodosius I celebrated his victory over the usurper Magnus Maximus in Rome on June 13, 389. Claudian 's panegyric to Emperor Honorius records the last known official triumph in the city of Rome and the western Empire. Emperor Honorius celebrated it conjointly with his sixth consulship on January 1, 404; his general Stilicho had defeated Visigothic King Alaric at the battles of Pollentia and Verona . In Christian martyrology , Saint Telemachus
8320-401: A top-quality Roman. Rome's abundant public and private statuary reinforced the notion that all Rome's great men wore togas, and must always have done so. Traditionalists idealised Rome's urban and rustic citizenry as descendants of a hardy, virtuous, toga-clad peasantry, but the toga's bulk and complex drapery made it entirely impractical for manual work or physically active leisure. The toga
8528-478: A triumphal Republican general, and the symbols he employed in his triumph, would have been closely scrutinised by his aristocratic peers, alert for any sign that he might aspire to be more than "king for a day". In the Middle to Late Republic, Rome's expansion through conquest offered her political-military adventurers extraordinary opportunities for self-publicity; the long-drawn series of wars between Rome and Carthage –
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8736-405: A tunic embroidered with flowers, topped off with a muslin neckerchief. In oratory, the toga came into its own. Quintilian 's Institutio Oratoria (circa 95 AD) offers advice on how best to plead cases at Rome's law-courts, before the watching multitude's informed and critical eye. Effective pleading was a calculated artistic performance, but must seem utterly natural. First impressions counted;
8944-578: A variety of colourful garments, with few togas in evidence. Only a higher-class Roman, a magistrate, would have had lictors to clear his way, and even then, wearing a toga was a challenge. The toga's apparent natural simplicity and "elegant, flowing lines" were the result of diligent practice and cultivation; to avoid an embarrassing disarrangement of its folds, its wearer had to walk with measured, stately gait, yet with virile purpose and energy. If he moved too slowly, he might seem aimless, "sluggish of mind" - or, worst of all, "womanly". Vout (1996) suggests that
9152-469: A victory procession of Alexander the Great . Like much in Roman culture, elements of the triumph were based on Etruscan and Greek precursors; in particular, the purple, embroidered toga picta worn by the triumphal general was thought to be derived from the royal toga of Rome's Etruscan kings. For triumphs of the Roman regal era, the surviving Imperial Fasti Triumphales are incomplete. After three entries for
9360-487: A year at a time. In times of crisis or emergency, the Senate might appoint a dictator to serve a longer term; but this could seem perilously close to the lifetime power of kings. The dictator Camillus was awarded four triumphs but was eventually exiled. Later Roman sources point to his triumph of 396 BCE as a cause for offense; the chariot was drawn by four white horses, a combination properly reserved for Jupiter and Apollo – at least in later lore and poetry. The demeanour of
9568-420: Is an aureus (a gold coin) that has a laurel-wreathed border enclosing a head which personifies Africa; beside it, Pompey's title "Magnus" ("The Great"), with wand and jug as symbols of his augury . The reverse identifies him as proconsul in a triumphal chariot attended by Victory . A triumphal denarius (a silver coin) shows his three trophies of captured arms, with his augur's wand and jug. Another shows
9776-574: Is listed on the Fasti for 27 BCE. Crassus was also denied the rare (and technically permissible, in his case) honour of dedicating the spolia opima of this campaign to Jupiter Feretrius . The last triumph listed on the Fasti Triumphales is for 19 BCE. By then, the triumph had been absorbed into the Augustan imperial cult system, in which only the emperor would be accorded such a supreme honour, as he
9984-467: Is ploughing his field when emissaries of the Senate arrive, and ask him to put on his toga. His wife fetches it and he puts it on. Then he is told that he has been appointed dictator . He promptly heads for Rome. Donning the toga transforms Cincinnatus from rustic, sweaty ploughman – though a gentleman nevertheless, of impeccable stock and reputation – into Rome's leading politician, eager to serve his country;
10192-587: Is said to have written his memoirs in Greek, but those are lost (perhaps destroyed) along with the history written by his elder son and namesake (adoptive father of Scipio Aemilianus) and his Life by Plutarch . As a result, contemporary accounts of his life, particularly his childhood and youth, are virtually non-existent. Even Plutarch's account of Scipio's life, written much later, has been lost. What remains are accounts of his doings in Polybius, Livy's Histories (which say little about his private life), supplemented with
10400-492: Is that the girl was freed by Aemilia Paulla after Scipio's death and married to one of his freedmen . This account is only found in Valerius Maximus (Memorable Deeds and Sayings 6.7.1–3. L) writing in the first century AD, some decades after Livy. Valerius Maximus is hostile to Scipio Africanus in other matters such as his frequent visits to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus , which Maximus saw as "fake religion". Scipio
10608-684: The Circus Maximus , perhaps dropping off any prisoners destined for execution at the Tullianum . It entered the Via Sacra then the Forum . Finally, it ascended the Capitoline Hill to the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus . Once the sacrifice and dedications were completed, the procession and spectators dispersed to banquets, games, and other entertainments sponsored by the triumphing general. In most triumphs,
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#173288424948410816-576: The Oxford Classical Dictionary , prefer 183 BC. It is not clear where Scipio Africanus was buried. There are three main possibilities. The first is the Tomb of the Scipios in Rome. Nothing survives in the literary record documenting his burial there, however. The second is his villa at Liternum: it was later owned by Seneca the Younger , who in a letter expressed his belief that an altar there
11024-434: The atrium . Augustus was particularly proud that his wife and daughter had set the best possible example to other Roman women by, allegedly, spinning and weaving his clothing. Hand-woven cloth was slow and costly to produce, and compared to simpler forms of clothing, the toga used an extravagant amount of it. To minimise waste, the smaller, old-style forms of toga may have been woven as a single, seamless, selvedged piece;
11232-488: The stola , which they wore over a full-length, usually long-sleeved tunic. Higher-class female prostitutes ( meretrices ) and women divorced for adultery were denied the stola . Meretrices might have been expected or perhaps compelled, at least in public, to wear the "female toga" ( toga muliebris ). This use of the toga appears unique; all others categorised as "infamous and disreputable" were explicitly forbidden to wear it. In this context, modern sources understand
11440-489: The Fasti but none in Dionysius. No ancient source gives a triumph to Romulus' successor, the peaceful king Numa . Rome's aristocrats expelled their last king as a tyrant and legislated the monarchy out of existence. They shared among themselves the kingship's former powers and authority in the form of magistracies . In the Republic, the highest possible magistracy was an elected consulship, which could be held for no more than
11648-510: The First Punic War , which saw the Carthaginians' war efforts renewed. The senate, regardless, assigned Scipio no additional soldiers, leading him to recruit an army of volunteers; Livy reports that from his clients and supporters in Italy, he mustered some 30 warships and 7,000 men. He spent most of his consulship preparing his troops in Sicily for the invasion of Africa. He captured Locri on
11856-517: The Gracchi brothers , Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus . None of his sons had legitimate issue. However, his son Publius adopted the son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, who became known as Scipio Aemilianus . Scipio's only descendants living through the late Republican period were the descendants of his two daughters. His younger daughter's last surviving child Sempronia , wife and then widow of Scipio Aemilianus – his adoptive grandson –
12064-521: The Principate onwards, the triumph reflected the Imperial order and the pre-eminence of the Imperial family. The triumph was consciously imitated by medieval and later states in the royal entry and other ceremonial events. In Republican Rome, truly exceptional military achievement merited the highest possible honours, which connected the vir triumphalis ("man of triumph", later known as a triumphator ) to Rome's mythical and semi-mythical past. In effect,
12272-642: The Punic Wars – produced twelve triumphs in ten years. Towards the end of the Republic, triumphs became still more frequent, lavish, and competitive, with each display an attempt (usually successful) to outdo the last. To have a triumphal ancestor – even one long-dead – counted for a lot in Roman society and politics. Cicero remarked that, in the race for power and influence, some individuals were not above vesting an inconveniently ordinary ancestor with triumphal grandeur and dignity, distorting an already fragmentary and unreliable historical tradition. To Roman historians,
12480-517: The Roman calendar . Most seem to have been celebrated at the earliest practicable opportunity, probably on days that were deemed auspicious for the occasion. Tradition required that, for the duration of a triumph, every temple was open. The ceremony was thus, in some sense, shared by the whole community of Roman gods, but overlaps were inevitable with specific festivals and anniversaries. Some may have been coincidental; others were designed. For example, March 1,
12688-526: The Spartacus revolt, and increased his honours by wearing a crown of Jupiter's "triumphal" laurel. Ovations are listed along with triumphs on the Fasti Triumphales . The Fasti Triumphales (also called Acta Triumphalia ) are stone tablets that were erected in the Forum Romanum around 12 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Augustus. They give the general's formal name, the names of his father and grandfather,
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#173288424948412896-538: The aediles ban anyone not wearing the toga from the Forum and its environs – Rome's "civic heart". Augustus's reign saw the introduction of the toga rasa , an ordinary toga whose rough fibres were teased from the woven nap, then shaved back to a smoother, more comfortable finish. By Pliny 's day (circa 70 AD) this was probably standard among the elite. Pliny also describes a glossy, smooth, lightweight but dense fabric woven from poppy-stem fibres and flax, in use from at least
13104-430: The gens togata ('toga-wearing race'). There were many kinds of toga, each reserved by custom to a particular usage or social class. The toga's most distinguishing feature was its semi-circular shape, which sets it apart from other cloaks of antiquity like the Greek himation or pallium . To Rothe, the rounded form suggests an origin in the very similar, semi-circular Etruscan tebenna . Norma Goldman believes that
13312-496: The otium (cultured leisure) claimed as a right by the elite. Rank, reputation and Romanitas were paramount, even in death, so almost invariably, a male citizen's memorial image showed him clad in his toga. He wore it at his funeral, and it probably served as his shroud. Despite the overwhelming quantity of Roman togate portraits at every social level, and in every imaginable circumstance, at most times Rome's thoroughfares would have been crowded with citizens and non-citizens in
13520-657: The river Baetis , near Baecula. While Scipio was victorious, the battle was indecisive and Hasdrubal escaped north with most of his army across the Pyrenees for Italy; Hasdrubal and his army reached Italy in 207, where they were eventually defeated in the Battle of the Metaurus with the army destroyed and Hasdrubal slain. The following year, Hasdrubal was replaced by a certain Hanno, who was captured by Junius Silanus in Celtiberia . Following
13728-463: The river Tanais ), pay a war indemnity of 15,000 talents to Rome with a separate 400 talents to Eumenes, all exiles and enemies of Rome would be handed over (including Hannibal) along with twenty hostages (including Antiochus' youngest son). The 190s BC saw a re-emergence of attempts by the aristocratic elite to put limits on individual ambitions. The return of the Scipiones to Rome saw claims over Lucius Scipio's triumph disputed: critics thought
13936-450: The stola may have paralleled the increasing identification of the toga with citizen men, but this seems to have been a far from straightforward process. An equestrian statue , described by Pliny the Elder as "ancient", showed the early Republican heroine Cloelia on horseback, wearing a toga. The unmarried daughters of respectable, reasonably well-off citizens sometimes wore the toga praetexta until puberty or marriage, when they adopted
14144-417: The sulcus primigenius undertaken at the founding of new colonies —could employ the "Gabine cinch" or "robe" ( cinctus Gabinus ) or "rite" ( ritus Gabinus ) which tied the toga back. This style, later said to have been part of Etruscan priestly dress , was associated by the Romans with their early wars with nearby Gabii and was thus used during Roman declarations of war . The traditional toga
14352-515: The "kingly" garb of the triumphator to Rome's first king Romulus , whose defeat of King Acron of the Caeninenses was thought coeval with Rome's foundation in 753 BCE. Ovid projected a fabulous and poetic triumphal precedent in the return of the god Bacchus /Dionysus from his conquest of India, drawn in a golden chariot by tigers and surrounded by maenads , satyrs, and assorted drunkards. Arrian attributed similar Dionysian and "Roman" elements to
14560-567: The "universal citizenship" of Caracalla 's Constitutio Antoniniana (212 AD), probably further reduced whatever distinctive value the toga still held for commoners, and accelerated its abandonment among their class. Meanwhile, the office-holding aristocracy adopted ever more elaborate, complex, costly and impractical forms of toga. The toga nevertheless remained the formal costume of the Roman senatorial elite. A law issued by co-emperors Gratian , Valentinian II and Theodosius I in 382 AD ( Codex Theodosianus 14.10.1) states that while senators in
14768-460: The Capitoline temple. The following schematic is for the route taken by "some, or many" triumphs, and is based on standard modern reconstructions. Any original or traditional route would have been diverted to some extent by the city's many redevelopments and re-building, or sometimes by choice. The starting place (the Campus Martius) lay outside the city's sacred boundary ( pomerium ), bordering
14976-507: The Capitoline triad that they would never abandon Rome. This story is probably a late invention, as it does not appear in Polybius. The next year, in 213 BC, he was elected curule aedile and served with his cousin Marcus Cornelius Cethegus . His candidacy was opposed by one of the plebeian tribunes on the grounds that he had not yet reached the minimum age, but the voters expressed such enthusiastic support for Scipio that
15184-668: The Circus, but he met with a hostile reception. Julius Caesar's penchant for wearing his triumphal regalia "wherever and whenever" was taken as one among many signs of monarchical intentions which, for some, justified his murder. In the Imperial era, emperors wore such regalia to signify their elevated rank and office and to identify themselves with the Roman gods and Imperial order – a central feature of Imperial cult . The building and dedication of monumental public works offered local, permanent opportunities for triumphal commemoration. In 55 BCE, Pompey inaugurated Rome's first stone-built Theatre as
15392-537: The Great were lavish and controversial. The first in 80 or 81 BCE was for his victory over King Hiarbas of Numidia in 79 BCE, granted by a cowed and divided Senate under the dictatorship of Pompey's patron Sulla. Pompey was only 24 and a mere equestrian. Roman conservatives disapproved of such precocity but others saw his youthful success as the mark of a prodigious military talent, divine favour, and personal brio; and he also had an enthusiastic, popular following. His triumph, however, did not go quite to plan. His chariot
15600-497: The Imperial toga. In the West, the kings and aristocrats of new European kingdoms styled their dress after that of late military generals rather than the senatorial order, and the toga thus did not survive the end of centralized Roman governance. Scipio Africanus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus ( / ˈ s k ɪ p . i . oʊ / , / ˈ s ɪ p -/ , Latin: [ˈskiːpioː] ; 236/235– c. 183 BC )
15808-469: The Macedonian campaign of 169 BC, the army was sent 6,000 togas and 30,000 tunics. From at least the mid-Republic on, the military reserved their togas for formal leisure and religious festivals; the tunic and sagum (heavy rectangular cloak held on the shoulder with a brooch) were used or preferred for active duty. Late republican practice and legal reform allowed the creation of standing armies, and opened
16016-610: The Mediterranean and beyond, limit her rights to expand in Africa, recognize Massinissa's kingdom, give up all but twenty of her ships, and pay a war indemnity. However, during the negotiations, the Carthaginians – suffering from starvation – attacked a Roman food convoy, leading to protests to be sent and envoys exchanged. Amid further attempts to remove him from command – one of the consuls of 203 BC, Gnaeus Servilius Caepio , attempted to substitute himself for Scipio to claim credit for
16224-571: The Republic, they were paid for by the triumphing general. Marcus Fulvius Nobilior vowed ludi in return for victory over the Aetolian League and paid for ten days of games at his triumph. Most Romans would never have seen a triumph, but its symbolism permeated Roman imagination and material culture. Triumphal generals minted and circulated characteristically detailed, high value coins to propagate their triumphal fame and generosity empire-wide. Pompey's issues for his three triumphs are typical. One
16432-403: The Roman economy; the amount brought in by Octavian 's triumph over Egypt triggered a fall in interest rates and a sharp rise in land prices. No ancient source addresses the logistics of the procession: where the soldiers and captives, in a procession of several days, could have slept and eaten, or where these several thousands plus the spectators could have been stationed for the final ceremony at
16640-406: The Roman toga, raised much opposition among some Senators of Rome, led by Cato the Elder who felt that Greek influence was destroying Roman culture. Cato, as a loyalist of Fabius Maximus , had been sent out as quaestor to Scipio in Sicily circa 204 BC to investigate charges of military indiscipline, corruption, and other offence against Scipio; none of those charges was found true by the tribunes of
16848-464: The Romans. Some time c. 206 BC , Scipio also founded the town of Italica (located about 9 km northwest of Seville), which later became the birthplace of the emperors, Trajan , Hadrian , and Theodosius I . With a general victory across the peninsula, Scipio then returned to Rome to stand for the consulship of 205 BC, leaving Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Manlius Acidinus in command. He returned to Rome late in
17056-568: The Scipiones had been fighting a weak enemy and that the war had actually truly been won a year earlier at Thermopylae. His triumph, however, was approved regardless. Lucius' attempt to secure from the senate a prorogation to oversee the settlement of Asia also was rejected; no exception would be made to the general post-Hannibalic war rule against promagistrates. Lucius Scipio adopted the cognomen Asiagenes and at his triumph brought some 137,420 pounds of silver, 224,000 tetradrachms , 140,000 gold coins, 234 gold crowns, 1231 ivory tusks, and more into
17264-457: The Scipiones' legal troubles are recorded in the ancient sources. Scipio Asiagenes was in fact indicted. He was not alone, his successor in Asia – Gnaeus Manlius Vulso – also was brought up on charges. Regardless, the trial forced a full accounting of cash paid by Antiochus to Manlius and Asiagenes. After Asiagenes was fined – either by a special court or by tribunician legislation – he refused to pay
17472-404: The Scipios arrived, the Romans had an army in Asia minor. Antiochus offered terms – a war indemnity to cover half the cost of the war and abandonment of his claims to Smyrna, Lapsacus, Alexandria Troas, and other towns – but the Scipiones rejected the offer based on the Roman war aim of reshaping to their benefit the Aegean balance of power. They responded by demanding Antiochus cede all territory to
17680-856: The Seleucid king Antiochus III during the Roman–Seleucid War . Disillusioned by the ingratitude of his peers, Scipio left Rome and retired from public life at his villa in Liternum . Scipio Africanus was born as Publius Cornelius Scipio in 236 BC to his then-homonymous father and Pomponia into the family of the Cornelii Scipiones . His family was one of the major still-extant patrician families and had held multiple consulships within living memory: his great-grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus and grandfather Lucius Cornelius Scipio had both been consuls and censors . His father had held
17888-461: The Senate turned down Marcus Marcellus ' request for a triumph after his victory over the Carthaginians and their Sicilian-Greek allies, apparently because his army was still in Sicily and unable to join him. They offered him instead a thanksgiving (supplicatio) and ovation. The day before it, he celebrated an unofficial triumph on the Alban Mount . His ovation was of triumphal proportions. It included
18096-421: The Taurus mountains and pay an indemnity covering the entire cost of the war; the demands were so extreme he immediately broke off negotiations. Late in the year, around mid-December, Antiochus' forces engaged the Romans at Magnesia ; even though they outnumbered the Romans and allies by at least two to one, Antiochus' army of some 60,000 men was routed. Shortly before Magnesia, Antiochus offered Scipio Africanus
18304-489: The account-books from his brother, he waved them before the senators and then tore them up, asking the rhetorical question as to how the senate could be concerned with a mere 3,000 talents when he had brought 15,000 into the treasury by conquering Spain, Africa, and Asia. One story, given by Valerius Antias , indicates that one of the tribunes at the urging of Cato the Elder brought charges against Scipio Africanus alleging bribery and theft. Antias then has Scipio respond with
18512-473: The alleged embassy, Scipio is apocryphally said to have discussed the best generals with Hannibal at Ephesus. In 192 BC, Rome declared war on Antiochus, who – after a cold war with the Romans starting from the close of the Second Macedonian War through to 193 BC – had invaded Greece. Antiochus' initial push into Greece was met with little enthusiasm by the locals, who were well-treated in
18720-599: The army under Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, which retreated to Gades (modern Cádiz ), Scipio's brother took Orongis (modern Jaén ) before a decisive victory in 206 BC at the Battle of Ilipa , north of modern Seville , forced the Carthaginians to withdraw from the peninsula. In mopping-up operations, Scipio captured Ilourgeia and Castulo, inflicting severe punishment on the former for having killed refugees from his army. Other Roman commanders captured other towns in Spain, including Astapa, whose inhabitants committed mass suicide. After
18928-488: The assembly elected Scipio to take command. Modern scholars dismiss the Livian narrative of senatorial indecision and have instead suggested that the senate chose Scipio but forced a popular vote to legitimise an irregular command. Giving Scipio command was an extraordinary act, as he at this point had never held a praetorship or consulship, but was regardless granted imperium pro consule , taking command on his arrival to Spain in
19136-408: The brothers divided their forces to attack three separate Carthaginian armies were defeated in detail . The brothers fell in separate battles against the Carthaginians, who were led by Hasdrubal Barca , Mago Barca , and Hasdrubal Gisco ; the two Barcas were Hannibal's brothers. Initially, Gaius Claudius Nero – who was praetor in 212 BC – was sent to contain the situation. But in 210 BC,
19344-459: The censorship of 184 (he was unsuccessful). Friends of the Scipiones continued to win consular elections. Scipio himself retired to Liternum; "the idea that he retired in semi-exile or ignominy is pure romance". Scipio retired to his country seat at Liternum on the coast of Campania , where he died. There are multiple dates reported for his death. Polybius and Rutilius , who both lived shortly after his death, report that he died in 183 BC;
19552-468: The citadel and rapidly switched his tune, sparing the remaining citizens and only enslaving the town's non-citizens. He then took the three hundred Spanish hostages into his custody, giving them gifts, guaranteeing their safety and that of their families, and promising them freedom if their respective communities would ally with Rome. After the battle, several Spanish tribes defected to the Romans. The next year, 208 BC, Scipio fought Hasdrubal north of
19760-421: The citizen classes, the toga identified them as a singular and exclusive civic body. Togas were relatively uniform in pattern and style but varied significantly in the quality and quantity of their fabric, and the marks of higher rank or office. The highest-status toga, the solidly purple, gold-embroidered toga picta could be worn only at particular ceremonies by the highest-ranking magistrates . Tyrian purple
19968-521: The city of Rome may wear the paenula in daily life, they must wear the toga when attending their official duties. Failure to do so would result in the senator being stripped of rank and authority, and of the right to enter the Curia Julia . Byzantine Greek art and portraiture show the highest functionaries of court, church and state in magnificently wrought, extravagantly exclusive court dress and priestly robes; some at least are thought to be versions of
20176-463: The city rapidly and with little ability to tell combatants and civilians apart, Scipio ordered his men to massacre all they encountered and pillage any structures; Polybius viewed the massacre as intended to terrorise the Spanish population into rapidly surrendering and included an anecdote of Romans being so thorough as to cut even the dogs and other animals in half. He then forced the surrender of Mago in
20384-424: The city's legendary founder Romulus , eleven lines of the list are missing. Next in sequence are Ancus Marcius , Tarquinius Priscus , Servius Tullius , and finally Tarquin "the proud" , the last king. The Fasti were compiled some five centuries after the regal era, and probably represent an approved, official version of several different historical traditions. Likewise, the earliest surviving written histories of
20592-449: The city. His soldiers were granted bonuses of 25 denarii each, with more to officers and cavalry. These enormous amounts of plunder triggered moral panic at Rome about the possible diversion of those funds to extravagant private use. These troubles related to the broader matter of charting the boundaries of power that magistrates could exercise abroad, especially in relation of monies obtained in war. A confusing mess of stories related to
20800-497: The consular investiture of Emperors, and the adventus , the formal "triumphal" arrival of an emperor in the various capitals of the Empire in his progress through the provinces. Some emperors were perpetually on the move and seldom or never went to Rome. Christian emperor Constantius II entered Rome for the first time in his life in 357, several years after defeating his rival Magnentius , standing in his triumphal chariot "as if he were
21008-534: The consulship of 194 BC. During his second consulship, he wanted to succeed Titus Quinctius Flamininus in Greece and advocated for a stronger Roman presence in the Aegean to guard against Antiochus III , but was unsuccessful. He instead fought the Boii and Ligurians in northern Italy, against whom the Romans had been continuously campaigning since 201 BC. Scipio let his co-consul, Tiberius Sempronius Longus , take
21216-420: The consulship of 218 BC, his uncle was consul in 222 BC, and his mother's brothers – Manius Pomponius Matho and Marcus Pomponius Matho – were both consuls in 233 and 231, respectively. The Second Punic war started in the spring of 218 BC when the Roman ultimatum to Carthage demanding that Hannibal withdraw from Saguntum in Spain was rejected. Scipio's father was consul that year and
21424-437: The disastrous Battle of Cannae – his father-in-law, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus , was there slain – and, after the battle, rallied survivors at Canusium . According to Livy, when he heard that Lucius Caecilius Metellus and other young nobles were discussing a plan to abandon the republic and go overseas to serve as mercenaries, Scipio stormed into the meeting and forced all of them at sword-point to swear to Jupiter and
21632-486: The dominance of Rome's togate elect. Senators sat at the very front, equites behind them, common citizens behind equites ; and so on, through the non-togate mass of freedmen, foreigners, and slaves. Imposters were sometimes detected and evicted from the equestrian seats. Various anecdotes reflect the toga's symbolic value. In Livy 's history of Rome , the patrician hero Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus , retired from public life and clad (presumably) in tunic or loincloth,
21840-483: The earliest forms of all these garments would have been simple, rectangular lengths of cloth that served as both body-wrap and blanket for peasants, shepherds and itinerant herdsmen. Roman historians believed that Rome's legendary founder and first king, the erstwhile shepherd Romulus , had worn a toga as his clothing of choice; the purple-bordered toga praetexta was supposedly used by Etruscan magistrates, and introduced to Rome by her third king, Tullus Hostilius . In
22048-550: The early 2nd century AD, the satirist Juvenal claimed that "in a great part of Italy, no-one wears the toga, except in death"; in Martial's rural idyll there is "never a lawsuit, the toga is scarce, the mind at ease". Most citizens who owned a toga would have cherished it as a costly material object, and worn it when they must for special occasions. Family, friendships and alliances, and the gainful pursuit of wealth through business and trade would have been their major preoccupations, not
22256-487: The early autumn. He was the first person to have been given proconsular imperium without having held consular office. He went to Spain with some 10,000 reinforcements and was joined by another commander, Marcus Junius Silanus , who was dispatched pro praetore and soon assumed command of Nero's army. Seeking to defeat the three Carthaginian armies in detail, the next year, 209 BC, saw Scipio's first major campaign: he besieged Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena), which
22464-612: The eastern bank of the Tiber . The procession entered the city through a Porta Triumphalis (Triumphal Gate), and crossed the pomerium , where the general surrendered his command to the senate and magistrates . It continued through the site of the Circus Flaminius , skirting the southern base of the Capitoline Hill and the Velabrum , along a Via Triumphalis (Triumphal Way) towards
22672-400: The extent of the general's political and military powers and popularity, and the possible consequences of supporting or hindering his further career. There is no firm evidence that the Senate applied a prescribed set of "triumphal laws" when making their decisions, Valerius Maximus extrapolated various "triumphal laws" from disputed historic accounts of actual practice. They included one law that
22880-427: The faculty of inspiring his soldiers with confidence. Livy reports that, as a Roman commissioner to Ephesus following the defeat of Antiochus III , on meeting the exiled Hannibal , Scipio took the opportunity to ask Hannibal's opinion of the "greatest commander", to which Hannibal named Alexander the Great as the first and Pyrrhus as the second. Livy continues, "On Scipio's again asking him whom he regarded as
23088-399: The festival and dies natalis of the war god Mars , was the traditional anniversary of the first triumph by Publicola (504 BCE), of six other Republican triumphs, and of the very first Roman triumph by Romulus . Pompey postponed his third and most magnificent triumph for several months to make it coincide with his own dies natalis (birthday). Religious dimensions aside, the focus of
23296-507: The final blow against Carthage; the consuls of 202 BC coveted the African command for the same reason – Scipio refused peace terms at a parley with Hannibal in 202 BC. With the support of Masinissa's Numidian cavalry, the Battle of Zama was fought shortly after; the Romans won and Carthage then again sued for peace. In the new year, 201 BC, Scipio remained in Africa to conclude negotiations, which saw Carthage's territory kept to
23504-491: The fine, claiming poverty, and was only saved from prison when one of the plebeian tribunes, usually identified as Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus , interceded. Africanus was around the same time challenged in the senate. A senator demanded that he produce his account-books for the Antiochene campaign and account for the monies allotted to pay his troops. He responded with indignation and declared that he owed no reckoning. Securing
23712-462: The first century AD, alleged that Scipio Africanus had a weakness for beautiful women, and knowing this, some of his soldiers presented him with a beautiful young woman captured in New Carthage. The woman turned out to be the fiancée of an important Iberian chieftain and Scipio chose to act as a general and not an ordinary soldier in restoring her, virtue and ransom intact, to her fiancé. This episode
23920-521: The first triumph in the mythical past; some thought that it dated from Rome's foundation ; others thought it more ancient than that. Roman etymologists thought that the soldiers' chant of triumpe was a borrowing via Etruscan of the Greek thriambus ( θρίαμβος ), cried out by satyrs and other attendants in Dionysian and Bacchic processions. Plutarch and some Roman sources traced the first Roman triumph and
24128-777: The former Roman province of Africa to the control of Byzantium in the 533–534 Vandalic War . The triumph was held in the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople . Historian Procopius , an eyewitness who had previously been in Belisarius's service, describes the procession's display of the loot seized from the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE by Roman Emperor Titus , including the Temple Menorah . The treasure had been stored in Rome's Temple of Peace after its display in Titus' own triumphal parade and its depiction on his triumphal arch ; then it
24336-462: The funeral and apotheosis of the deified Titus. Prior to this, the senate voted Titus a triple-arch at the Circus Maximus to celebrate or commemorate the same victory or triumph. In Republican tradition, only the Senate could grant a triumph. A general who wanted a triumph would dispatch his request and report to the Senate. Officially, triumphs were granted for outstanding military merit;
24544-482: The gaze of his peers and an applauding crowd, to the temple of Capitoline Jupiter . His spoils and captives led the way; his armies followed behind. Once at the Capitoline temple, he sacrificed two white oxen to Jupiter , and laid tokens of victory at the feet of Jupiter's statue, thus dedicating the triumph to the Roman Senate, people, and gods. Triumphs were tied to no particular day, season, or religious festival of
24752-399: The general funded any post-procession banquets from his share of the loot. There were feasts for the people and separate, much richer feasts for the elite; some went on for most of the night. Dionysius offers a contrast to the lavish triumphal banquets of his time by giving Romulus's triumph the most primitive possible "banquet" – ordinary Romans setting up food-tables as a "welcome home", and
24960-433: The general must have killed at least 5,000 of the enemy in a single battle, and another that he must swear an oath that his account was the truth. No evidence has survived for either of these laws, or any other laws relating to triumphs. A general might be granted a "lesser triumph", known as an Ovation. He entered the city on foot, minus his troops, in his magistrate's toga and wearing a wreath of Venus ' myrtle. In 211 BCE,
25168-410: The general was close to being "king for a day", and possibly close to divinity. He wore the regalia traditionally associated both with the ancient Roman monarchy and with the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus : the purple and gold "toga picta", laurel crown, red boots and, again possibly, the red-painted face of Rome's supreme deity. He was drawn in procession through the city in a four-horse chariot, under
25376-488: The general's direct appeal to the people over the senate and a promise of public games at his own expense. Others were blocked or granted only after interminable wrangling. Senators and generals alike were politicians, and Roman politics was notorious for its rivalries, shifting alliances, back-room dealings, and overt public bribery. The senate's discussions would likely have hinged on triumphal tradition, precedent, and propriety; less overtly but more anxiously, it would hinge on
25584-520: The gods, starting with the Augustan reinvention of Rome as a virtual monarchy (the principate ). Sculpted panels on the arch of Titus (built by Domitian ) celebrate Titus ' and Vespasian 's joint triumph over the Jews after the siege of Jerusalem , with a triumphal procession of captives and treasures seized from the temple of Jerusalem – some of which funded the building of the Colosseum . Another panel shows
25792-589: The gods. This is probably so for the earliest legendary and later semi-legendary triumphs of Rome's regal era, when the king functioned as Rome's highest magistrate and war-leader. As Rome's population, power, influence, and territory increased, so did the scale, length, variety, and extravagance of its triumphal processions. The procession ( pompa ) mustered in the open space of the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) probably well before first light. From there, all unforeseen delays and accidents aside, it would have managed
26000-472: The growth of triumphal ostentation undermined Rome's ancient "peasant virtues". Dionysius of Halicarnassus ( c. 60 BCE to after 7 BCE) claimed that the triumphs of his day had "departed in every respect from the ancient tradition of frugality". Moralists complained that successful foreign wars might have increased Rome's power, security, and wealth, but they also created and fed a degenerate appetite for bombastic display and shallow novelty. Livy traces
26208-431: The kingdom. The Carthaginians reacted to the defeat by recalling their generals Hannibal and Mago from Italy and launching their fleet against Scipio's to cut off their supply lines. Scipio was forced into a naval battle near Utica, but was able to avert disaster, losing only some sixty transport ships. Another set of peace negotiations occurred, with the Carthaginians eventually agreeing to abandon all territorial claims in
26416-406: The late 2nd century AD and was distinguished by its broad, smooth, slab-like panels or swathes of pleated material, more or less correspondent with umbo , sinus and balteus , or applied over the same. On statuary, one swathe of fabric rises from low between the legs, and is laid over the left shoulder; another more or less follows the upper edge of the sinus ; yet another follows the lower edge of
26624-489: The later historian Valerius Antias reported that he died in 187 BC. Livy , arguing against both dates in his history, believed Scipio died c. 185 BC , rejecting both dates with the argument that if Scipio lived to 183 he would be noted as princeps senatus and that Scipio had to have lived to 185 BC to have been prosecuted by the Naevius who was tribune in that year. However, most modern sources, such as
26832-404: The later toga are confirmed by Tertullian , who preferred the pallium . High-status (consular or senatorial) images from the late 4th century show a further ornate variation, known as the "Broad Eastern Toga"; it hung to the mid-calf, was heavily embroidered, and was worn over two pallium -style undergarments, one of which had full length sleeves. Its sinus was draped over the left arm. In
27040-423: The later, larger versions may have been made from several pieces sewn together; size seems to have counted for a lot. More cloth signified greater wealth and usually, though not invariably, higher rank. The purple-red border of the toga praetexta was woven onto the toga using a process known as " tablet weaving "; such applied borders are a feature of Etruscan dress. Modern sources broadly agree that if made from
27248-408: The latter as " togati ". He employs the phrase cedant arma togae ("let arms yield to the toga"), meaning "may peace replace war", or "may military power yield to civilian power", in the context of his own uneasy alliance with Pompey . He intended it as metonym, linking his own "power to command" as consul ( imperator togatus ) with Pompey's as general ( imperator armatus ); but it was interpreted as
27456-523: The law forbade her remarriage to a Roman citizen. In the public gaze, she was aligned with the meretrix . When worn by a woman in this later era, the toga would have been a "blatant display" of her "exclusion from the respectable Roman hierarchy". However, the view that a convicted adulteress ( moecha damnata ) actually wore a toga in public has been challenged; Radicke believes that the only prostitutes who could be made to wear particular items of clothing were unfree, compelled by their owners or pimps to wear
27664-563: The lawyer must present himself as a Roman should: "virile and splendid" in his toga, with statuesque posture and "natural good looks". He should be well groomed – but not too well; no primping of the hair, jewellery or any other "feminine" perversions of a Roman man's proper appearance. Quintilian gives precise instructions on the correct use of the toga – its cut, style, and the arrangements of its folds. Its fabric could be old-style rough wool, or new and smoother if preferred – but definitely not silk. The orator's movements should be dignified, and to
27872-454: The leading role in the fighting and returned to Rome to hold the consular elections. In 193 BC, Scipio is said to have taken part in two embassies. The first was to Africa, where he was one of three sent to arbitrate a boundary dispute between Carthage and Masinissa: the commission left the matter undecided, possibly on purpose. The second embassy is said to have been to Asia and, on the basis of travel time, could not have happened. During
28080-538: The long term, the toga saw both a gradual transformation and decline, punctuated by attempts to retain it as an essential feature of true Romanitas . It was never a popular garment; in the late 1st century, Tacitus could disparage the urban plebs as a vulgus tunicatus ("tunic-wearing crowd"). Hadrian issued an edict compelling equites and senators to wear the toga in public; the edict did not mention commoners. The extension of citizenship, from around 6 million citizens under Augustus to between 40 and 60 million under
28288-426: The main exceptions to this rule. The type of toga worn reflected a citizen's rank in the civil hierarchy. Various laws and customs restricted its use to citizens, who were required to wear it for public festivals and civic duties. From its probable beginnings as a simple, practical work-garment, the toga became more voluminous, complex, and costly, increasingly unsuited to anything but formal and ceremonial use. It
28496-425: The master-slave relationship. Patrons were few, and most had to compete with their peers to attract the best, most useful clients. Clients were many, and those of least interest to the patron had to scrabble for notice among the "togate horde" ( turbae togatae ). One in a dirty or patched toga would likely be subject to ridicule; or he might, if sufficiently dogged and persistent, secure a pittance of cash, or perhaps
28704-499: The matter of cash raised his standing among the conservatives, and Pompey seems to have learned a lesson in populist politics. For his second triumph (71 BCE, the last in a series of four held that year) his cash gifts to his army were said to break all records, though the amounts in Plutarch's account are implausibly high: 6,000 sesterces to each soldier (about six times their annual pay) and about 5 million to each officer. Pompey
28912-461: The matter to the popular assemblies if it refused to do so. Despite fierce opposition from the princeps senatus, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , the senate bowed to his pressure and he received Sicily with permission to cross into Africa if he wished. Fabius' opposition may have been related to jealousy of Scipio's popularity, but also was likely informed by the failed African campaign c. 255 BC under Marcus Atilius Regulus during
29120-462: The middle class. Eventually, it was worn only by the highest classes for ceremonial occasions. The toga was an approximately semi-circular woollen cloth, usually white, worn draped over the left shoulder and around the body: the word "toga" probably derives from tegere , to cover. It was considered formal wear and was generally reserved for citizens. The Romans considered it unique to themselves, thus their poetic description by Virgil and Martial as
29328-438: The most honourable seats, front of house, for senators and equites ; this was how it had always been, before the chaos of the civil wars; or rather, how it was supposed to have been. Infuriated by the sight of a darkly clad throng of men at a public meeting, he sarcastically quoted Virgil at them, " Romanos, rerum dominos, gentemque togatam " ("Romans, lords of the world and the toga-wearing people"), then ordered that in future,
29536-400: The nobility, he was entitled to a particular kind of funeral in which a string of actors walked behind his bier wearing the masks of his ancestors; another actor represented the general himself and his highest achievement in life by wearing his funeral mask, triumphal laurels, and toga picta . Anything more was deeply suspect; Pompey was granted the privilege of wearing his triumphal wreath at
29744-448: The officiant priest covered his head with a fold of his toga, drawn up from the back: the ritual was thus performed capite velato (with covered head). This was believed a distinctively Roman form, in contrast to Etruscan, Greek and other foreign practices. The Etruscans seem to have sacrificed bareheaded ( capite aperto ). In Rome, the so-called ritus graecus ("Greek rite") was used for deities believed Greek in origin or character;
29952-437: The officiant, even if a Roman citizen, wore Greek-style robes with wreathed or bare head, not the toga. It has been argued that the Roman expression of piety capite velato influenced Paul 's prohibition against Christian men praying with covered heads: "Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head." An officiant capite velato who needed free use of both hands to perform ritual—as while plowing
30160-434: The ordinary run of military captains as an incomparable commander." Metellus Scipio , a descendant of Scipio, commanded legions against Julius Caesar in Africa until his defeat at the Battle of Thapsus in 49 BC. Popular superstition was that only a Scipio could win a battle in Africa, so Julius Caesar assigned a distant relative of Metellus to his staff in order to say that he too had a Scipio fighting for him. Scipio
30368-448: The peace so that he could continue the war in Scipio's place, the peace terms were ratified by the assembly in Rome, bringing the war to a final close. On his return, Scipio celebrated a triumph over Hannibal, the Carthaginians, and Syphax. There, he took the agnomen Africanus ('the African'), for his victories. By this point, Scipio's career reached far beyond his peers even though he
30576-606: The people(s) or command province whence the triumph was awarded, and the date of the triumphal procession. They record over 200 triumphs, starting with three mythical triumphs of Romulus in 753 BCE and ending with that of Lucius Cornelius Balbus (19 BCE). Fragments of similar date and style from Rome and provincial Italy appear to be modeled on the Augustan Fasti , and have been used to fill some of its gaps. Many ancient historical accounts also mention triumphs. Most Roman accounts of triumphs were written to provide their readers with
30784-402: The plebs accompanying Cato (it may or may not be significant that years later, as censor , Cato degraded Scipio's brother Scipio Asiaticus from the Senate. It is certainly true that some Romans of the day viewed Cato as a representative of the old Romans, and Scipio and his like as Graecophiles). He often visited the temple of Jupiter and made offerings there. There was a belief that he was
30992-400: The point; he should move only as he must, to address a particular person, a particular section of the audience. He should employ to good effect that subtle "language of the hands" for which Roman oratory was famed; no extravagant gestures, no wiggling of the shoulders, no moving "like a dancer". To a great extent, the toga itself determined the orator's style of delivery: "we should not cover
31200-525: The procession, two flawless white oxen were led for the sacrifice to Jupiter, garland-decked and with gilded horns. All this was done to the accompaniment of music, clouds of incense, and the strewing of flowers. Almost nothing is known of the procession's infrastructure and management. Its doubtless enormous cost was defrayed in part by the state but mostly by the general's loot, which most ancient sources dwell on in great detail and unlikely superlatives. Once disposed, this portable wealth injected huge sums into
31408-467: The reassuring illusion that they represented a traditional Republican, civilian authority, rather than the military arm of an Imperial autocracy. Citizens attending Rome's frequent religious festivals and associated games were expected to wear the toga. The toga praetexta was the normal garb for most Roman priesthoods, which tended to be the preserve of high status citizens. When offering sacrifice, libation and prayer, and when performing augury ,
31616-454: The regal era, written some centuries after it, attempt to reconcile various traditions, or else debate their merits. Dionysius , for example, gives Romulus three triumphs, the same number given in the Fasti . Livy gives him none, and credits him instead with the first spolia opima , in which the arms and armour were stripped off a defeated foe, then dedicated to Jupiter. Plutarch gives him one, complete with chariot. Tarquin has two triumphs in
31824-505: The relatively shorter, "skimpy", less costly toga exigua , more revealing, easily opened and thus convenient to their profession. Until the so-called " Marian reforms " of the Late Republic, the lower ranks of Rome's military forces were "farmer-soldiers", a militia of citizen smallholders conscripted for the duration of hostilities, expected to provide their own arms and armour. Citizens of higher status served in senior military posts as
32032-445: The returning troops taking swigs and bites as they marched by. He recreates the first Republican triumphal banquet along the same lines. Varro claims that his aunt earned 20,000 sesterces by supplying 5,000 thrushes for Caecilius Metellus 's triumph of 71 BCE. Some triumphs included ludi as fulfillment of the general's vow to a god or goddess, made before battle or during its heat, in return for their help in securing victory. In
32240-430: The same abilities as his grandfather. The elder Scipio was a spiritual man as well as a soldier and statesman, and was a priest of Mars . The ability which he is supposed to have possessed is called by the old name, "second sight", and he is supposed to have had prescient dreams in which he saw the future. Livy describes this belief as it was perceived then, without offering his opinion as to its veracity. Polybius made
32448-462: The same costume." The Augustan Principate brought peace, and declared its intent as the restoration of true Republican order, morality and tradition. Augustus was determined to bring back "the traditional style" (the toga). He ordered that any theatre-goer in dark (or coloured or dirty) clothing be sent to the back seats, traditionally reserved for those who had no toga; ordinary or common women, freedmen, low-class foreigners and slaves. He reserved
32656-399: The senatorial award of a triumph to Marcus Licinius Crassus the Younger , despite the latter's acclamation in the field as Imperator and his fulfillment of all traditional, Republican qualifying criteria except full consulship. Technically, generals in the Imperial era were legates of the ruling Emperor (Imperator). Augustus claimed the victory as his own but permitted Crassus a second, which
32864-420: The shoulder and the whole of the throat, otherwise our dress will be unduly narrowed and will lose the impressive effect produced by breadth at the chest. The left arm should only be raised so far as to form a right angle at the elbow, while the edge of the toga should fall in equal lengths on either side." If, on the other hand, the "toga falls down at the beginning of our speech, or when we have only proceeded but
33072-505: The shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool , and was worn over a tunic . In Roman historical tradition , it is said to have been the favored dress of Romulus , Rome's founder; it was also thought to have originally been worn by both sexes, and by the citizen-military. As Roman women gradually adopted the stola , the toga was recognized as formal wear for male Roman citizens . Women found guilty of adultery and women engaged in prostitution might have provided
33280-404: The social or economic scale, or more rarely, his equal or superior. A good client canvassed political support for his patron, or his patron's nominee; he advanced his patron's interests using his own business, family and personal connections. Freedmen with an aptitude for business could become extremely wealthy; but to negotiate citizenship for themselves, or more likely their sons, they had to find
33488-425: The spoils of his war. At Jupiter's temple on the Capitoline Hill , he offered sacrifice and the tokens of his victory to Jupiter. In Republican tradition, only the Senate could grant a triumph. The origins and development of this honour are obscure: Roman historians themselves placed the first triumph in the mythic past. Republican morality required that the general conduct himself with dignified humility, as
33696-517: The start of the rot to the triumph of Gnaeus Manlius Vulso in 186, which introduced ordinary Romans to such Galatian fripperies as specialist chefs, flute girls, and other "seductive dinner-party amusements". Pliny adds "sideboards and one-legged tables" to the list, but lays responsibility for Rome's slide into luxury on the "1400 pounds of chased silver ware and 1500 pounds of golden vessels" brought somewhat earlier by Scipio Asiaticus for his triumph of 189 BCE. The three triumphs awarded to Pompey
33904-569: The state paid for the ceremony if this and certain other conditions were met – and these seem to have varied from time to time, and from case to case – or the Senate would pay for the official procession, at least. Most Roman historians rest the outcome on an open Senatorial debate and vote, its legality confirmed by one of the people's assemblies ; the senate and people thus controlled the state's coffers and rewarded or curbed its generals. Some triumphs seem to have been granted outright, with minimal debate. Some were turned down but went ahead anyway, with
34112-476: The status quo ante bellum, Carthage restore to the Romans all captured goods and persons, Carthaginian disarmament of all but ten triremes, and Carthage needing to ask for Roman permission to make any war. Massinissa's territory in Numidia was to be confirmed; and a war indemnity of 10,000 talents was to be paid over the next fifty years. Although the consul of 201 BC, Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus attempted to oppose
34320-498: The surviving histories of Appian and Cassius Dio , and the odd anecdote in Valerius Maximus. Of these, Polybius was the closest to Scipio Africanus in age and in connections, but his narrative may be biased by his friendship with Scipio's close relatives and that the primary source of his information about Africanus came from one of his best friends, Gaius Laelius . Scipio is considered by many to be one of Rome's greatest generals. Skillful alike in strategy and in tactics, he had also
34528-431: The system as clients for years, and found the whole business demeaning. A client had to be at his patron's beck and call, to perform whatever "togate works" were required; and the patron might even expect to be addressed as " domine " (lord, or master); a citizen-client of the equestrian class , superior to all lesser mortals by virtue of rank and costume, might thus approach the shameful condition of dependent servitude. For
34736-525: The third triumph of Pompey ... magnificent in riches and abounding in the spoils of foreign nations". A triumphal arch made for the Royal entry into Paris of Louis XIII of France in 1628 carried a depiction of Pompey. Toga picta The toga ( / ˈ t oʊ ɡ ə / , Classical Latin : [ˈt̪ɔ.ɡa] ), a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome , was a roughly semicircular cloth, between 12 and 20 feet (3.7 and 6.1 m) in length, draped over
34944-456: The third, Hannibal, without any hesitation, replied, 'Myself.' Scipio smiled and asked, 'What would you say if you had vanquished me?' 'In that case,' replied Hannibal, 'I should say that I surpassed Alexander and Pyrrhus, and all other commanders in the world.' Scipio was delighted with the turn which the speaker had with true Carthaginian adroitness given to his answer, and the unexpected flattery it conveyed, because Hannibal had set him apart from
35152-651: The time of the Punic Wars. Though probably appropriate for a "summer toga", it was criticised for its improper luxuriance. Some Romans believed that in earlier times, both genders and all classes had worn the toga. Radicke (2002) claims that this belief goes back to a Late Antique scholiast misreading of earlier Roman writings. Women could also be citizens, but by the mid-to-late Republican era, respectable women were stolatae ( stola -wearing), expected to embody and display an appropriate set of female virtues: Vout cites pudicitia and fides as examples. Women's adoption of
35360-461: The toe of Italy that year, and left one Pleminius in command there. After Pleminius assumed command, he robbed the city's temple and tortured and killed two military tribunes. For these crimes, the senate had Pleminius placed under arrest; Scipio was also implicated but was cleared the next year. His imperium was prorogued into 205 BC and in that year, he crossed with his men into Africa and besieged Utica before withdrawing and pretending in
35568-499: The toga across the chest) in imperial-era forms of the toga. Its added weight and friction would have helped (though not very effectively) secure the toga's fabric onto the left shoulder. As the toga developed, the umbo grew in size. The most complex togas appear on high-quality portrait busts and imperial reliefs of the mid-to-late Empire, probably reserved for emperors and the highest civil officials. The so-called "banded" or "stacked" toga (Latinised as toga contabulata ) appeared in
35776-457: The toga was brought to Italy from Mycenaean Greece , its name based on Mycenaean Greek te-pa , referring to a heavy woollen garment or fabric. Roman society was strongly hierarchical, stratified and competitive. Landowning aristocrats occupied most seats in the senate and held the most senior magistracies . Magistrates were elected by their peers and "the people"; in Roman constitutional theory, they ruled by consent. In practice, they were
35984-447: The toga was explicitly forbidden to non-citizens; to foreigners, freedmen, and slaves; to Roman exiles; and to men of "infamous" career or shameful reputation; an individual's status should be discernable at a glance. A freedman or foreigner might pose as a togate citizen, or a common citizen as an equestrian; such pretenders were sometimes ferreted out in the census . Formal seating arrangements in public theatres and circuses reflected
36192-492: The toga – or perhaps merely the description of particular women as togata – as an instrument of inversion and realignment; a respectable (thus stola -clad) woman should be demure, sexually passive, modest and obedient, morally impeccable. The archetypical meretrix of Roman literature dresses gaudily and provocatively. Edwards (1997) describes her as "antithetical to the Roman male citizen". An adulterous matron betrayed her family and reputation; and if found guilty, and divorced,
36400-589: The toga's most challenging qualities as garment fitted the Romans' view of themselves and their civilization. Like the empire itself, the peace that the toga came to represent had been earned through the extraordinary and unremitting collective efforts of its citizens, who could therefore claim "the time and dignity to dress in such a way". Patronage was a cornerstone of Roman politics, business and social relationships. A good patron offered advancement, security, honour, wealth, government contracts and other business opportunities to his client, who might be further down in
36608-415: The toga, and an obligation to the patron who had granted these honours; usually their senior officer. A dishonourable discharge meant infamia . Colonies of retired veterans were scattered throughout the Empire. In literary stereotype, civilians are routinely bullied by burly soldiers, inclined to throw their weight around. Though soldiers were citizens, Cicero typifies the former as " sagum wearing" and
36816-526: The tribune desisted. From the start of the war through to 211 BC, Scipio's father, Publius Cornelius Scipio, and uncle – Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus – were in command of Rome's armies in Spain. They made some headway when the Carthaginians were forced to withdraw a considerable portion of their forces to handle a revolt by Syphax of Numidia . Through the seven years from 218, the brothers had successfully extended Roman control deep into Carthaginian territory. However, disaster struck in 211 BC when
37024-461: The triumph as an Imperial privilege. Those outside the Imperial family might be granted "triumphal ornaments" ( Ornamenta triumphalia ) or an ovation, such as Aulus Plautius under Claudius . The senate still debated and voted on such matters, though the outcome was probably already decided. In the Imperial era, the number of triumphs fell sharply. Imperial panegyrics of the later Imperial era combine triumphal elements with Imperial ceremonies such as
37232-464: The triumph was the general himself. The ceremony promoted him – however temporarily – above every mortal Roman. This was an opportunity granted to very few. From the time of Scipio Africanus , the triumphal general was linked (at least for historians during the Principate) to Alexander and the demi-god Hercules , who had laboured selflessly for the benefit of all mankind. His sumptuous triumphal chariot
37440-656: The triumphal procession culminated at Jupiter's temple on the far end of the Via Sacra (sacred road) in the Roman Forum, the procession itself, attendant feasting, and public games promoted the general's status and achievement. By the Late Republican era, triumphs were drawn out and extravagant, motivated by increasing competition among the military-political adventurers who ran Rome's nascent empire. Some triumphs were prolonged by several days of public games and entertainments. From
37648-461: The triumphal themes and biographies of ancient Roman texts as ideals for cultured, virtuous rule; it was influential and widely read. Andrea Mantegna 's series of large paintings on the Triumphs of Caesar (1484–92, now Hampton Court Palace ) became immediately famous and was endlessly copied in print form. The Triumphal Procession commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1512–19) from
37856-475: The war's start. The consul of 190 BC was Scipio Africanus' brother, Lucius Cornelius Scipio , who was assigned by the senate to Greece with permission to cross into Asia. He appointed his older brother, Scipio Africanus, as one of his legates. While en route, Roman armies and fleets quickly overwhelmed Antiochus' defences, forcing him to retreat from the Hellespont and Abydos ; by October 190 BC, when
38064-518: The war. Next in line, all on foot, came Rome's senators and magistrates, followed by the general's lictors in their red war-robes, their fasces wreathed in laurel, then the general in his four-horse chariot. A companion, or a public slave, might share the chariot with him or, in some cases, his youngest children. His officers and elder sons rode horseback nearby. His unarmed soldiers followed in togas and laurel crowns, chanting "io triumphe!" and singing ribald songs at their general's expense. Somewhere in
38272-491: The wider context of classical Greco-Roman fashion, the Greek enkyklon ( Greek : ἔγκυκλον , "circular [garment]") was perhaps similar in shape to the Roman toga, but never acquired the same significance as a distinctive mark of citizenship. The 2nd-century diviner Artemidorus Daldianus in his Oneirocritica derived the toga's form and name from the Greek tebennos (τήβεννος), supposedly an Arcadian garment invented by and named after Temenus. Emilio Peruzzi claims that
38480-496: The winter to negotiate with the Carthaginians. During those pretended negotiations, Scipio mapped out the enemy camps and launched a night attack that was successful in destroying them and killing a large number of the enemy. The armies then fought in the Battle of the Great Plains some time early in the new year (his imperium was prorogued until the war's completion) and after capturing Syphax of Numidia, restored Massinissa to
38688-467: The year 199 BC, Scipio was elected censor with Publius Aelius Paetus as his colleague. Their censorship was largely unremarkable, but saw Scipio named as princeps senatus , a title which he retained for the next two lustra . After this point, the classicist Howard Hayes Scullard believed that Scipio's political position entered an eclipse. This is disputed. After the required ten years between consulships had elapsed, Scipio secured election to
38896-444: The year; according to Livy he was denied a triumph, on the grounds that he was privatus – that is, sine magistratu – and had never been elected to a magistracy with imperium . Scipio was elected unanimously to the consulship of 205 BC amid much enthusiasm; he was 31 and still technically too young to be consul. When he entered into office, he demanded that the senate assign him the province of Africa and threatened to take
39104-439: The younger Scipio joined him in the campaign to stop Hannibal's march on Italy. In a short cavalry engagement between Scipio's father and Hannibal at the river Ticinus near modern Pavia , Polybius claims that the son saved his father's life after the father was encircled by enemy horsemen. Other sources, however, credit an unnamed Ligurian slave. Two years later, in 216 BC, Scipio served as military tribune . He survived
39312-407: Was alive as late as 102 BC. Scipio was a man of great intellect and culture who could speak and read Greek , wrote his own memoirs in Greek and became also noted for his introduction of the clean shaven face fashion among the Romans according to the example of Alexander the Great instead of wearing the beard . This man's fashion lasted until the time of emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138), then
39520-706: Was Africanus' tomb. The third is the pyramidal Meta Romuli which was ahistorically dubbed the Sepulcrum Scipionis during the Renaissance. Scipio married Aemilia Tertia , daughter of the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus who fell at Cannae. She was also the sister of another consul, Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus . Scipio's marriage was fruitful. They had three sons: They also had two daughters. Both were named Cornelia. The elder married Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum . The younger Cornelia married Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and became mother to
39728-516: Was a Roman general and statesman, most notable as one of the main architects of Rome's victory against Carthage in the Second Punic War . Often regarded as one of the greatest military commanders and strategists of all time, his greatest military achievement was the defeat of Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. This victory in Africa earned him the honorific epithet Africanus , literally meaning 'the African', but meant to be understood as
39936-410: Was a major Carthaginian logistics hub and of substantial strategic importance. In the battle , he captured the city by sending a wading party across the lagoon to the city's north when it reached low tide, he told the troops that he had a vision in which the god Neptune had promised aid; this alleged vision played a role in the rapid development of a Scipionic legend around him and his family. Storming
40144-425: Was and is considered ancient Rome's "national costume"; as such, it had great symbolic value; however even among Romans, it was hard to put on, uncomfortable and challenging to wear correctly, and never truly popular. When circumstances allowed, those otherwise entitled or obliged to wear it opted for more comfortable, casual garments. It gradually fell out of use, firstly among citizens of the lower class, then those of
40352-438: Was bedecked with charms against the possible envy ( invidia ) and malice of onlookers. In some accounts, a companion or public slave would remind him from time to time of his own mortality (a memento mori ). Rome's earliest "triumphs" were probably simple victory parades, celebrating the return of a victorious general and his army to the city, along with the fruits of his victory, and ending with some form of dedication to
40560-440: Was draped, rather than fastened, around the body, and was held in position by the weight and friction of its fabric. Supposedly, no pins or brooches were employed. The more voluminous and complex the style, the more assistance would have been required to achieve the desired effect. In classical statuary, draped togas consistently show certain features and folds, identified and named in contemporary literature. The sinus (literally,
40768-429: Was drawn by a team of elephants in order to represent his African conquest – and perhaps to outdo even the legendary triumph of Bacchus. They proved too bulky to pass through the triumphal gate, so Pompey had to dismount while a horse team was yoked in their place. This embarrassment would have delighted his critics, and probably some of his soldiers – whose demands for cash had been near-mutinous. Even so, his firm stand on
40976-458: Was frequently depicted by painters of the Renaissance and early modern era as the Continence of Scipio. According to Valerius Maximus, Scipio had a relationship from c. 191 BC with one of his own serving girls, which his wife magnanimously overlooked. The affair, if it lasted from circa 191 BC to Scipio's death 183 BC, might have resulted in issue (not mentioned); what is mentioned
41184-507: Was granted a third triumph in 61 BCE to celebrate his victory over Mithridates VI of Pontus. It was an opportunity to outdo all rivals – and even himself. Triumphs traditionally lasted for one day, but Pompey's went on for two in an unprecedented display of wealth and luxury. Plutarch claimed that this triumph represented Pompey's domination over the entire world – on Rome's behalf – and an achievement to outshine even Alexander 's. Pliny's narrative of this triumph dwells with ominous hindsight upon
41392-400: Was heavy, "unwieldy, excessively hot, easily stained, and hard to launder". It was best suited to stately processions, public debate and oratory, sitting in the theatre or circus, and displaying oneself before one's peers and inferiors while "ostentatiously doing nothing". Every male Roman citizen was entitled to wear some kind of toga – Martial refers to a lesser citizen's "small toga" and
41600-505: Was led by his Florentine captives, made to carry candles in honour of Lucca's patron saint. Castracani followed, standing in a decorative chariot. His booty included the Florentines' portable, wheeled altar, the carroccio . Flavio Biondo 's Roma Triumphans (1459) claimed the ancient Roman triumph, divested of its pagan rites, as a rightful inheritance of Holy Roman Emperors. Italian poet Petrarch 's Triumphs ( I triomfi ) represented
41808-437: Was made of wool, which was thought to possess powers to avert misfortune and the evil eye ; the toga praetexta (used by magistrates, priests and freeborn youths) was always woollen. Wool-working was thought a highly respectable occupation for Roman women. A traditional, high-status mater familias demonstrated her industry and frugality by placing wool-baskets, spindles and looms in the household's semi-public reception area,
42016-620: Was martyred by a mob while attempting to stop the customary gladiatorial games at this triumph, and gladiatorial games ( munera gladiatoria ) were banned in consequence. In 438 CE, however, the western emperor Valentinian III found cause to repeat the ban, which indicates that it was not always enforced. In 534, well into the Byzantine era , Justinian I awarded general Belisarius a triumph that included some "radically new" Christian and Byzantine elements. Belisarius successfully campaigned against his adversary Vandal leader Gelimer to restore
42224-761: Was only in his early thirties. On his return, he deposited some 123,000 pounds of silver into the Roman treasury and distributed 400 asses each to his soldiers. His popularity among the plebs was also astonishing – the Scipionic legend, which in later forms depicted him a son of Jupiter – and heralded great political success. This success, however, turned many Roman aristocrats into his enemies, largely to oppose his further aggrandisement or out of jealousy. Even during his consulship, he had been opposed by Fabius Maximus and others, especially after stories circulated of his being saluted as king and god in Spain. His intended role in Roman politics, however, remained traditional. In
42432-513: Was revived by Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) and lasted until the reign of emperor Phocas (r. 602–610) who again introduced the wearing of the beard among Roman emperors. He also enjoyed the reputation of being a graceful orator , the secret of his sway being his deep self-confidence and radiant sense of fairness. To his political opponents, he was often harsh and arrogant, but towards others singularly gracious and sympathetic. His Graecophile lifestyle, and his unconventional way of wearing
42640-467: Was seized by the Vandals during their sack of Rome in 455; then it was taken from them in Belisarius' campaign. The objects themselves might well have recalled the ancient triumphs of Vespasian and his son Titus ; but Belisarius and Gelimer walked, as in an ovation . The procession did not end at Rome's Capitoline Temple with a sacrifice to Jupiter, but terminated at Hippodrome of Constantinople with
42848-499: Was supposedly reserved for the toga picta , the border of the toga praetexta , and elements of the priestly dress worn by the inviolate Vestal Virgins . It was colour-fast, extremely expensive and the "most talked-about colour in Greco-Roman antiquity". Romans categorised it as a blood-red hue, which sanctified its wearer. The purple-bordered praetexta worn by freeborn youths acknowledged their vulnerability and sanctity in law. Once
43056-523: Was the first Roman general to expand Roman territories outside Italy and islands around the Italian mainland. He conquered the Carthaginian territory of Iberia for Rome, although the two Iberian provinces were not fully pacified for a couple of centuries. His defeat of Hannibal at Zama paved the way for Carthage's eventual destruction in 146 BC. His interest in a Graecophile lifestyle had tremendous influence on
43264-508: Was the supreme Imperator . The Senate, in true Republican style, would have held session to debate and decide the merits of the candidate; but this was little more than good form. Augustan ideology insisted that Augustus had saved and restored the Republic, and it celebrated his triumph as a permanent condition, and his military, political, and religious leadership as responsible for an unprecedented era of stability, peace, and prosperity. From then on, emperors claimed – without seeming to claim –
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