Editing Roman triumph (section)

==Awarding a triumph==
In [[Roman Republic|Republican]] tradition, only the [[Roman Senate|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; 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 [[legislative assemblies of the Roman Republic|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 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.<ref>Beard, 196−201.</ref> The senate's discussions would likely have hinged on triumphal tradition, precedent, and propriety; less overtly but more anxiously, it would hinge on 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,<ref>See discussion in Beard, pp. 199–206, 209–210. [[Livy]]'s "triumphal laws" hark back to earlier, traditional but probably reinvented triumphs of Republican Rome's expansion to Empire and its defeat of foreign kings; his notion was that triumphal generals must possess the highest level of ''imperium'' (Livy, 38.38.4, in the 206 BCE case of [[Scipio Africanus]]), but this is contradicted in [[Polybius]] 11.33.7 and [[Pompey]]'s status at his first triumph.</ref><ref>The tradition was probably an indication of esteem and popularity that triumphal generals in the Republic had been spontaneously proclaimed as ''imperator'' by their troops in the field; it was not an absolute requirement (see Beard, p. 275). Taking divine [[auspices]] before battle might have been formally reserved to the highest magistrate on the field, while a victory proved that a commander must have pleased the gods – whatever the niceties of his authority. Conversely, a lost battle was a sure sign of religious dereliction; see Veit Rosenberger, "The Gallic Disaster", ''The Classical World'', (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 96, 4, 2003, p. 371, note 39.</ref> Valerius Maximus extrapolated various "triumphal laws" from disputed historic accounts of actual practice. They included one law that 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.<ref>Beard, pp. 206–211, citing Valerius Maximus, ''Memorable Facts and Sayings'', 2. 8. 1.</ref>

===Ovation===
{{Main|Ovation}}
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 (mythology)|Venus]]' myrtle. In 211 BCE, the Senate turned down [[Marcus Claudius Marcellus|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 a large painting, showing his siege of [[Syracuse, Sicily|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.<ref>[[Livy]], ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', 26, 21; cf. Plutarch ''Marcellus'' 19–22.</ref>

In 71 BCE, [[Marcus Licinius Crassus|Crassus]] earned an ovation for quashing the [[Spartacus]] revolt, and increased his honours by wearing a crown of Jupiter's "triumphal" laurel.<ref>Beard, p. 265.</ref> Ovations are listed along with triumphs on the ''Fasti Triumphales''.