Primary Sources on the Triumph

[M.H. White]

Hello all,

I'm writing a research paper on the Triumph for an upper-division course on the city of Rome. I would particularly like to find some sources on Triumphs from Augustus to Constantius. At the moment I don't know who to look in for good information on the Triumph, as I haven't gotten a chance to read most of the ancient writers besides Livy. I might have access to Seutonius too, but my university doesn't have a Classics Dept.


The paper is about the Triumphator as Jupiter and the appropriation of the triumph as an institution of the monarchy and a symbol of divinity, for those who might be interested to know.

Thanks in advance

[SOCL]

Check Tacitus and Polybius. Both should be easy finds at any major bookseller.

Good luck on the paper!

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Marshal,
Try getting your hands on HS Versnel, Triumphus : an inquiry into the origin, development and meaning of the Roman triumph (Brill; Leiden 1970). That might be useful. :wink:

[M.H. White]

Hey Jasper,

Triumphus is an excellent book, and its what I'm using as my main goldmine of information at the moment. Triumphus is pretty dense at times(the passages in the original Greek, Latin, or German without translations are killers), but it has some excellent information. I am, needless to say, just scratching the surface of this research project at the moment. Also, Triumphus seems to deal mostly with the Republic, though I haven't read it cover-to-cover yet.


Thanks for the help

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Marshal,
Ok, so you have that already! I did a quick check in our library catalogue and found another, 1890s German publication. Interested?

[M.H. White]

Unfortunately, as of yet I can only get the gist of anything written in German. However, if its translated into English, then certainly! I noticed that Versnel cites several German authors of the 19th century.

[Kate Gilliver]

Hi Marshal
In addition to Versnel, there's R.Payne The Roman Triumph, London 1962. Though to be honest Versnel is the authority when it comes to triumphs.

If you're having difficulty accessing primary sources, Forum Romanum is an excellent resource, as is Bill Thayer's wonderful Lacus Curtius.

Bill has put the military articles from the classic Dr Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities on line, including the article on the Triumph which is packed full of references, many of which you can chase up in the two links above.
(Hail Bill Thayer)

Good luck with the paper.

ps - no idea why that hyperlink won't work; have tried several ways to get it in but it's just being perverse. Sorry, you'll have to do a cut n paste.

[M.H. White]

Thanks very much! And no worries, I can cut & paste like a master!

Also, anybody who happens to know of specific instances involving emperors becoming jealous of the right to triumph would be helpful, as the main point of this paper involves the divine associations of the triumphator and the growing wish for emperors to be seen as godlike.

Agricola and Domitian is one, if memory serves.

[Dan Diffendale]

no idea why that hyperlink won't work; have tried several ways to get it in but it's just being perverse. Sorry, you'll have to do a cut n paste.

It's Bill's use of the asterisk * in the URL -- the code here on the board doesn't like it.

[Praefectusclassis]

In that case, just focus on Augustus who sent the tone there (as in much else). After his reign, triumphs were, after all, limited to the imperial houshold.

[Robert Vermaat]

[size=150:2wn2s95k]Primary Sources on the Triumph[/size]
http://www.triumph.co.uk/

[size=75:2wn2s95k](sorry, couldn't resist...)[/size]

[M.H. White]

Oh the wit, Robert! Just kidding, it was funny, I laughed.


And, Jasper, I know that mostly the Triumphs were only for the imperial household after Augustus, but what I'm hoping to find is a trend reducing the number of triumphs celebrated by non-imperials as the principate goes on. Agricola gets a triumph in Tacitus, and I think perhaps someone else got one under Vespasian? I'm not sure yet, but I shall find out.

[Kate Gilliver]

The last triumph held by a senator who was not a member of the imperial family was in 19 BC - Cornelius Balbus over the Garamantes (Fasti Triumphales Capitolini). After that, senators might be hailed imperator by their soldiers, but were not allowed to hold triumphs through the city of Rome. Instead, they tended to be granted triumphal ornamenta - the insignia that a triumphator would carry in the procession, but they didn't get the procession. Junius Blaesus was the last man to be hailed imperator by his troops - for the campaign against Tacfarinas in c.AD 24. Thereafter emperors might award triumphal ornamenta to their legates in the same way that generals might award military decorations to their men. It's a much lesser honour.
Agricola was awarded triumphal ornamenta, not a proper triumph. Tacitus' claim that he was denied further promotion because of Domitian's jealousy is likely to be a result of Tacitus' attempt to blacken the name of Domitian at every opportunity.

The last senator to hold an ovatio was Aulus Plautius (Cassius Dio 61.30) for the invasion of Britain.

[M.H. White]

Thanks very much Kate, that was quite illuminating. I had yet to read anything about the distinction of the lesser honor of the triumphal ornaments instead of an actual triumph, although I haven't dug very deep yet; I'm doing most of my reading this week and next week. To say that to recieve the ornaments was a lesser honor would be quite an understatement, I imagine.

Which author writes about Cornelius Balbus's Triumph?


Thanks a ton

[SOCL]

Check Zonaras, Epitome 7.21. It gives a detailed account of what a triumph is and how it is held, though this is much later, namely late 11th/early 12th Century. I'll post a full transcript of the bit here when I get a chance (it's rather lengthy), but it's a primary source I wouldn't pass up. You can find it in:

• Shelton, Jo-Ann. As the Romans Did, 2nd ed. Oxford U Press: New York, 1998. p. 251-52. (ISBN 019508974X)