Spolia opima (fat armor) - a particularly honorable trophy , donated to Jupiter by the Feretrii commander, who received the right to triumph .
Such a gift could be presented by the army commander ( king or consul ), who personally killed the enemy commander in a duel and took off his armor and weapons, which were brought as a gift to Jupiter. Despite the fact that the Romans recognized and displayed other types of trophies - for example, the standards and noses of enemy ships - spolia opima was considered the most honorable trophy and brought great glory to the conqueror.
There were only three such cases in the history of Rome [1] [2] :
- Romulus defeated Tseninsky Tsar Akron [3] ;
- Military stands with consular power Aulus Cornelius Koss in 437 BC e. defeated the king of the city of Veija Lars Tolumnia [4] ;
- Consul Mark Claudius Marcellus in 222 BC e. defeated the king of the Insubra Vertomar (Britomart) [5] [6] .
The fourth was to be the proconsul Mark Licinius Crassus , who killed in 29 BC. e. in the battle of the king of the Bastarnes, Deldon, but Octavian Augustus , fearing that such great glory would make Crassus a dangerous rival, forbade him to devote armor under far-fetched pretexts [7] .
According to ancient authors, three more military leaders performed similar feats, killing enemy leaders in fights [8] [9] :
- Titus Manlius Torquatus in 361 BC e. killed a noble gall in a duel on the bridge over the river Anien [10] [11] .
- Military stands Mark Valery Korv in 349 BC e. killed the leader of the Senons during the war in the Pomptin region [12] [13] .
- Military stands Scipio Emilian in 151 BC e. in Spain, he killed an enemy leader during the siege of the Wackey city ββof Interkation [14] [15] .
However, all of them fought under the auspices of other commanders, and therefore did not have the right to devote enemy armor to the temple [8] . In addition, in relation to the first two cases, the ancient authors do not have unity: Valery Maxim and Aulus Gellius call the opponents of the Romans leaders, and Titus Livius - simply selected warriors. What rank was Manlius Torquatus, Roman authors do not report.
Notes
- β Propercium . Elegy IV 10.
- β Plutarch . Marcellus 8.
- β Titus Livy . History of Rome I 10, 4-7.
- β Titus Livy . History of Rome IV 19, 5; 20, 2.
- β Titus Livy . Epitome 20.
- β Plutarch . Marcellus 7-8.
- β Dion Cassius . LI, 23-27.
- β 1 2 Valery Maxim . III, 2, 6.
- β Appian . Celt. 10.
- β Titus Livy . VII, 10.
- β Aulus Gellius . IX. 11.
- β Titus Livy . VII, 26.
- β Aulus Gellius . IX, 13.
- β Titus Livy . Perioja 48.
- β Welley Patculus . I, 12, 4.