First, the soldiers would proclaim a victorious general as imperator and the senate would decree a triumph. The triumphator appeared 'arrayed in the triumphal dress and wearing armlets, with a laurel crown upon his head, and holding a branch in his right hand .. .' He called together the people, praised the gathered soldiers, distributed gifts, and then mounted a tower-shaped chariot upon which he moved in procession with a slave holding a crown over his head. He was preceded into the city by captives and graphic representations of his victories. Finally, 'the victorious general arrived at the Roman Forum, and after commanding that some of the captives be led to prison and put to death, he rode up to the Capitol. There he performed certain rites and made offerings and dined in the porticos up there, after which he departed homeward toward evening .. .'
The triumphal robe (ornatus louis), a garment of regal purple embroidered with gold, and the gold laurel wreath, were both taken from the statue of the god in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. The face of the triumphator was painted red in imitation of the same statue. The crowd cried triumpe, a call for the manifestation of the god.
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