CELEBRATING MILITARY VICTORY
The most famous celebration of victory was the Roman triumph, where the victor celebrated his accomplishments in Rome and was regarded as the equal of the god Jupiter for the day wearing a crown of laurel and a gold-decorated, purple toga (the ). He rode in a four-horse chariot starting in the Campus Martius (where Roman armies were traditionally mustered) and travelled slowly to dedicate his victory at the temple of Jupiter on the Capi-toline Hill. Spoils and prisoners were paraded, as was the victorious army and the senate. The entire city of Rome turned out to celebrate the victor, the or . Triumphs were awarded to victorious generals in the Republic and could only be granted by a vote of the senate. The dictator Marcus Furius Camillus (ca.446–365 BC) celebrated four – although at his first he rode in a chariot pulled by four white horses which was considered a step too far; men thought this “unbecoming even for a mortal man, let alone a Roman citizen” (Livy 5.23.5). By) were awarded and, as the Roman Republic progressed, the number of days awarded for victories increased. Below the triumph was an (‘ovation’) where the general entered the city on foot and without his troops. He also wore only a wreath of myrtle and a magistrate’s toga (). It is immediately obvious how many words of victory today come from those of Rome and Greece – triumph, victory, ovation, even trophy (based on the Greek , or in Latin – see below).
