Ovation

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Type of Roman celebration of military victory

title: "Ovation" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["military-awards-and-decorations-of-ancient-rome"] description: "Type of Roman celebration of military victory" topic_path: "history/military" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovation" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Type of Roman celebration of military victory ::

The ovation ( from ovare: to rejoice) was a lesser form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, pirates); or when the general conflict was resolved with little or no danger to the army itself. The ovation could also be given rather than a triumph when there were extenuating circumstances, such as when Marcus Marcellus was given an ovation in lieu of a triumph as his army remained in Sicily and therefore was unable to cross the pomerium.

The general celebrating the ovation did not enter the city on a biga, a chariot pulled by two white horses, as generals celebrating triumphs did, but instead rode on horseback in the toga praetexta of a magistrate.

The honoured general also wore a wreath of myrtle (sacred to Venus) upon his brow, rather than the triumphal wreath of laurel. The Roman Senate did not precede the general, nor did soldiers usually participate in the procession.

Perhaps the most famous ovation in history is that which Marcus Licinius Crassus celebrated after his victory of the Third Servile War.

Ovation holders

Republic

There were 23 known ovations during the Republic.

Principate

Notes

References

  1. Oxford English Dictionary
  2. Maxfield, Valerie A.. (1981). "The Military Decorations of the Roman Army". University of California Press.
  3. Goldsworthy, Adrian. (2014). "Augustus: First Emperor of Rome". Yale University Press.
  4. G. Rohde. ''Ovatio'', RE XVIII, 1939, pp. 1890–1903
  5. [[Pliny the Elder]], '' Naturalis Historia'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D15%3Achapter%3D38 15:38]
  6. [[Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton
  7. [http://www.attalus.org/translate/fasti.html Fasti Triumphales]
  8. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=95 pp. 69–70]
  9. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=103 p. 77]
  10. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=118 p. 92]
  11. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=209 pp. 183–184]
  12. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=299 pp. 273–274]
  13. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=320 p. 294]
  14. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=350 p. 324]
  15. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=399 p. 373]
  16. T. Robert S. Broughton. ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'' [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015009351001;view=1up;seq=409 p. 383]
  17. [[Publius Annius Florus. Florus]], [[Wikisource:Epitome of Roman History/Book 2. ''Epitome of Roman History'', book 2:7–8]]
  18. T. Robert S. Broughton. [http://www.sfb600.uni-trier.de/filebase/A2/mrr2.pdf ''The magistrates of the Roman Republic'', p. 3] {{webarchive. link. (2015-04-21)
  19. [[Plutarch]], ''The Life of Crassus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Crassus*.html#11 11:8]
  20. Lendering, Jona, ''[https://www.livius.org/ro-rz/rome/rome_arch_drusus.html Arch of Drusus] {{Webarchive. link. (2015-10-08 '')
  21. [[Suetonius]], ''The Life of Tiberius'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Tiberius*.html#9 9]
  22. Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin, Andrew Lintott. ''The Cambridge Ancient History: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69'', p. 554
  23. Suetonius, ''The Life of Caligula'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Caligula*.html#49 49]
  24. Tacitus, "Annales" (xiii. 32)
  25. Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin, Andrew Lintott. ''The Cambridge Ancient History: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69'', p. 224
  26. John Donahue, ''[http://www.luc.edu/roman-emperors/domitian.htm Titus Flavius Domitianus (A.D. 81–96)]''

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