IMPERATOR

Form: commander-in- chief.

A Roman title, originally the designation of each separate possessor of an independent command (imperium). In the course of time it became customary to assume the title after a man had gained his first great victory, usually after having been greeted as imperator either by the soldiers on the battlefield, or by the decree of the senate. Under the Empire the title, which was seldom conferred by Augustus, was granted for the last time by Tiberius 22 A.D. It was usually followed by a triumph, and ceased when the triumph was over. As a permanent title, it was first assumed by Caesar, whose adopted son and heir Octavian bore it as an inherited cognomen, and from the year B.C. 40 onwards, according to a custom that arose at that time, substituted it for his previous proenomen Gains, thus becoming Imperator Caesar, instead of Caesar Imperator. His immediate successors, Tiberius, Ca1igula, and Claudius abstained from using this proenomen; Nero used it frequently, but it first became permanent with Vespasian. The emperors also took the title Imperator, in its earlier signification, after a victory won by themselves or on their behalf.