Ovation

The ovation (Latin: ovatio) was a 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.^[1]

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 walked 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.^[2]

• 503 BC – Publius Postumius Tubertus (over Sabins)^[3]
• 487 BC – Gaius Aquillius Tuscus^[4]
• 474 BC – Gnaeus Manlius Vulso^[5]
• 462 BC – T. Veturius Geminus Cicurinus^[5]
• 421 BC – Cn. Fabius Vibulanus^[6]
• 410 BC – C. Valerius Potitus Volusus^[7]
• 390 BC – Marcus Manlius^[8]
• 360 BC – Marcus Fabius Ambustus^[5]
• 290 or 289 BC – M. Curius Dentatus^[9]
• 211 BC – M. Claudius Marcellus^[10]
• 207 BC – Gaius Claudius Nero^[11]
• 200 BC – Lucius Cornelius Lentulus^[12]
• 196 BC – Cn. Cornelius Blasius^[5]
• 195 BC – M. Helvius^[5]
• 191 BC – Marcus Fulvius Nobilior^[5]
• 185 BC – L. Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus^[13]
• 182 BC – A. Terentius Varro^[14]
• 174 BC – Ap. Claudius Centho^[5]
• 132 BC – M. Perperna^[15]
• 99 BC – M. Aquilius^[16]
• 71 BC – M. Licinius Crassus^[17]
• 44 BC – Julius Caesar^[5]
• 40 BC – Augustus^[5]
• 40 BC – Marcus Antonius^[5]
• 36 BC – Augustus^[5]

Principate

• 11 BC – Nero Claudius Drusus^[18]
• 9 BC (approved in 11 BC) – Tiberius^[19]
• 20 – Drusus Julius Caesar^[20]
• 40 – Caligula^[21]
• 47 – Aulus Plautius ^[22]
• 55 – Nero^[23]
• 93 – Domitian^[24]

Notes

1. Maxfield, Valerie A. (1981). The Military Decorations of the Roman Army. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN 978-0-520-04499-9. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
2. G. Rohde. Ovatio, RE XVIII, 1939, p. 1890-1903
3. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 15:38
4. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic pp. 19-20
5. Fasti Triumphales
6. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic pp. 69-70
7. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 77
8. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 92
9. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic pp. 183-184
10. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic pp. 273-274
11. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 294
12. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 324
13. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 373
14. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic p. 383
15. Florus, Epitome of Roman History, book 2:7-8
16. T. Robert S. Broughton. The magistrates of the Roman Republic, p. 3
17. Plutarch, The Life of Crassus 11:8
18. Lendering, Jona, Arch of Drusus
19. Suetonius, The Life of Tiberius 9
20. Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin, Andrew Lintott. The Cambridge Ancient History: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69, p. 554
21. Suetonius, The Life of Caligula 49
22. Tacitus, "Annales" (xiii.32)
23. Alan K. Bowman, Edward Champlin, Andrew Lintott. The Cambridge Ancient History: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. – A.D. 69, p. 224
24. John Donahue, Titus Flavius Domitianus (A.D. 81-96)

See also

• Roman Triumph
• Roman triumphal honours