Roman Triumph - Legal Requirements

Legal Requirements

In the Republic, the triumph was the highest honour. In order to receive a triumph, the Leader must:

1. Win a significant victory over a foreign enemy, killing at least 5,000 enemy troops, and earn the title imperator.
2. Be an elected magistrate with the power of imperium, i.e. a dictator, consul, or a praetor.
3. Bring the army home, signifying that the war was over and that the army was no longer needed. This only applied with a citizen army. By the imperial period the proper triumph was reserved for the emperor and his family. If a general was awarded a triumph by the emperor, he would march with a token number of his troops.
4. In the Republican period, the senate had to give approval for a triumph based on the above mentioned requirements.

Internal conflicts (civil wars) did not, at least in theory, merit triumphs. The defeated enemy had to be of equal status, so defeating a slave revolt could therefore not earn a triumph.