Farai Mushangwe

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The Roman Triumph

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The present paper will present the significance of Roman triumphs and the purpose behind it in
the history of Rome .Triumph refers to a conclusive success following an effort or confrontation
and imposing ceremonial performed in honor of a victor .Any triumphal procession ; a pompous
exhibition , a stately show or peagant .Mary Beard remarked that the Roman triumph was the
victory ritual par excellence ,its celebrates the greatest height to which political Roman of the
republic would aspire .Instances of the Roman triumphal victories included as Mary Beard put it
,Pompey had dealt decisively with two of the greatest dangers of Rome security and boasted a
range of conquest that justified comparison with King Alexander himself hence (the title the
great,(2007:7).Triumphal procession had celebrated Roman victories from the very earliest days
of the city .Or so the Romans themselves believed tracing their origins of the ceremony back to
their mythical founders Romulus and other early kings .The triumph was about display of
success .Many of these occasions were memorized by Roman writers who recounted .The logic
of the triumph was a celebration of victory over external enemies only: however on the war
between Ceasar and Pompey , civil war could in a sense be defined as a war that would have no
triumphs ;Mary Beard(2007:123).

To begin with the Roman triumph had first been traced from the Etruscan kings .According to
HS Versenel (1970) suggested that triumph was a universal constituent of a new years
ceremonies. This ritual was in each case found to have a distinct mythical parallel in the myth of
the god who after an initial defeat ;ultimate triumph, and returns as a king and
ruler;(1970:225).Also M.R.P, Pittenger (2008:275) demonstrates that ,the whole city celebrate
and fully realize that glory of each new triumphator as headed to the Fasti and his registal to the
cumulative history and legacy of Rome at arms .No greater performance took place on the civic
stage than triumph, which was one of the foundation of the Roman life .Thus the time has come
therefore to attempt on a decoding of the triumph as a religious ritual ,political display and
cultural peagant.Mary Beard (2007:227), concurs with Versenal HS when saying that in his 1970
study Triumphs .In any case as he pointed out that the iconography of Jupiter was inextricable
from the insignia of the early kings. Further the commander was dressed like a god or
impersonating Jupiter.

In addition Roman triumphs were regarded as triumphs or victories over external threats rather
than internal or civil war victories. Mary Beard (2007:123) argued that the logic of the triumph

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was a celebration of victory external enemies only : As Lucan has it in his epic poems on the war
between Ceasar and Pompey, civil war could in a sense be defined as war that had no triumphs.
According to Sara Midford and Rhiannon Evans (2017:67-68) commented on Ceasar against
Pompey that Ceaser crossed the lines of appropriate behavior and went too far.After his Spanish
campaign against Pompey’s remaining forces , which were commanded the deceased general
sons ,Cesar rutrned to celebrate his victory in a triumphal procession. This was however
celebrating victory over a fellow romans , in a civil war and it was both unlawful and unpopular.
This triumph was not popular with the senate and people because of the arrogance it displayed.
For indeed triumphs were designed to celebrate foreign conquest and Roman superiority ,hence
the audience groans at the death of the fellow Romans and applause to celebrate death to foreing
leaders.

Mary Beard (2007:46) further demonstrated that the impact of the triumph was not limited to the
realm of imperialist geopolitics or military history ,it extended far beyond the generals ,his
friends and rivals among the Romans elite. In particular dress was associated with what came to
be known as the processus consularis , the consular procession the ceremony held at the
inauguration of a new consuls (p.277).Against such background ,Pittenger M.R.P(2008:54)
argued that the most enduring triumph rules under the Republic have to do with the office
holding. Mommsen once wrote that the triumph depends upon on the fact of military success ,but
on the legal right of the office. No commander could triumph at the close of his mission ,that is
unless his imperium had originated with one of the regularly elected upper level magistrates
,consuls ,dictator or praetor .For instance the pairs of Pompey’s triumph’s celebrated in the
decade before his first election to the consulship form the unique late Republic exception that
proves the far older rule. Again it is important to note that there exist difficulties regarding the
success of the office holding.

Furthermore, the Roman triumph was also characterized by triumphal procession .This feature of
the Roman triumph was important because Mary Beard (2007:19) it was in the interest of the
sponsors to ensure that the ceremony lasts ,to give the fleeting spectacle more permanent form ,
to spread the experience beyond the lucky few who were present on the day itself .But art and
architecture also played a role in fixing the occasion in the public consciousness and memory
.Coins for example replicate Pompey’s great day in Min lature. Richard Brilliant (2003:225-226)

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stress that the processional imagery is a product of the Etruscan-Roman practice of parading
great men in the celebration of their triumph and during the course of their public funerals. For
instance the triumph of Ceasar panels , painted for the Gonzagas in the late fifteenth century and
now in Hampton court ,captured the essence of the triumphal procession as a spectacular event
vividly realized and visually splendid .Also the herky –jerky movement of the parading troops
are potrayed ,laden with spoils or bearing banners, insignia and placarded inscription in honor of
triumphater ,paintings illustrating the sites and scenes of battles and victories , held high trophaic
piles of the captured arms ,somber captives and the captured images of their gods, humbering
elephants,oxens ,prancing horses ,musicians of various kinds and trumpeters in large sound
cheering that once accompanied the original celebration .In this vein ,Mary Beard observes that ,
monuments depicting or commemorating triumphs came to dominate the city scope of Rome
,some of them still do. The arch of Titus erected in the early 805 CE is a highlight of the modern
tourist trail.

Nevertheless, it is of paramount importance also to recognize the role and position of women in
the Roman Triumph. According to Marleen .B .Flory(1998:490) argued that in the Republican
period ,there is no evidence to suggest that Roman women had any role in a triumph except as
spectators or participants in the general things giving thanks to the gods undertaken by the whole
populace .The story of the vestal virgins Claudia who leaped onto her father’s chariot to protect
him from arrest by the tribunes and allowed him to celebrate an illegal triumph, seems to show
that the vestal virgins state priestesses were spectators on the parade route. From the late
Augustan period however, there is evidence some tentative but some certain for a more
participating roles for imperial women in the triumph

To sum up from the above discussion ,it has demonstrated that the triumphal procession and
ceremony had its traces back to Etruscan origins .The Roman triumph ceremonies were held to
show Roman’s superiority over its enemies and conquest though to some extent Rome faced
some serious threats for example Hannibal invasion of Rome but still Rome won. More so the
impact of the Roman triumph was not limited only to imperialist geopolitics or military history
but also the issue of office holding. Monuments and architectural designs depicting or
commemorating Roman triumph came to dominate the city scope of Rome as presented in this
paper.

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References
Beard M.(2007) The Roman Triumph ,London ,Havard university press

Marleen B.F(1998) The intergration of Women into the Roman Triumph,Histeria:Zeitschrift fiir alte
Geschechte Bd,47. H.4(4th Qtr,1998)pp.489-494

Midford.S and Rhiannon.E,(2017) Ceasar Triumphs over Gaul and Rome,La Trobe university

Pittenger M.R,P (2008) Contested triumph: Politics ,pegaentry and performance in Livy’s Republican
Rome ,University of Califonia press

Richard ,B.(2003) Let the Trumpets Roars , The Roman Triumph in Bettina Bergman and Christine
Kondeleon (eds) Studies in the history of visual arts ;centre for advanced study in the visual arts
,Symposium papers xxxiv,Yale university press.

Versenel H.S.(1970),Triumph and inquiry into the origins ,development and meaning of the Roman
Triumph.Brill