Imperator

The Latin word imperator was a title originally roughly equivalent to commander during the period of the Roman Republic. It later went on to become a part of the titulature of the Roman emperors and to enter European political vocabulary as a synonym for emperor. Unlike emperor, the word is pronounced with stress on the third syllable.

Imperatores in the Roman Republic

In the Roman Republic, imperator was the title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph, where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium.

Related Topics:
Senate - Triumph - Imperium

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Since a triumph was the goal of many politically ambitious Roman commanders, Roman Republican history is full of cases where legions were bribed to call their commander imperator: in 90 BC a Caius Julius Caesar, in 84 BC Cneus Pompeus, in 60 BC the other, most famous, Caius Julius Caesar, relative of the former, in 50 BC Marcus Tullius Cicero, in 45 BC again Caius Julius Caesar, in 44 BC Marcus Iunius Brutus, and in 41 BC Lucius Antonius (relative and ally of the more famous Marcus Antonius).

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