The elite citizens of the Roman Republic were part of a system built to encourage ambition and competition.

As the men of the Republic competed for honors and political positions,

the greatest honor Rome could bestow upon someone was a triumph. A triumph was much more than a parade.

It was a mixture of political, civic, and religious ritual. Learn more about the Roman

Triumph, its significance, and the rules surrounding it on this episode of

Everything Everywhere Daily. Before I get into exactly what a triumph was, I need to talk about two very similar ideas that were the driving force in elite Roman society.

The twin concepts of Achtoritas and Dignitas. These are the roots of the English words

authority and dignity, but they meant something very different in Rome.

Dignitas had to do with a person's good name.

A person's Dignitas was something that they built up over the course of their life, and it was arguably their most important asset. People would often commit suicide rather than taint their dignitas.

Much of it would fall under what we call honor, but it was more than that.

It included all you've achieved, your reputation, and your social standing.

Octoritas is a very similar concept. It wasn't legal authority that was dealt with under the concepts of

Pottestus or Emperium. Auctoritas has been described as, quote, more than advice and less than command, an advice which one may not ignore.

Octoritas also dealt with prestige, which is why it's often confused with Dignitas. Dignitas was a concept often reserved for men, but women could

have Octoritas. Livia, the wife of Augustus, who herself was known as Augusta, held a lot of

Actoritas. I bring up these two concepts because they are critical

to understanding a Roman triumph. One thing that elite Roman men coveted more than anything else

was military success. If you were successful on the

battlefield you could achieve high political office you'd probably become rich and

you would have the adulation of the masses. If you remember back to my episode on the first

triumvirate, two of the members of the triumvirate were Pompey in Crassus.

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