Everything about Imperator totally explained
The
Latin word
imperator was a title originally roughly equivalent to
commander during the period of the
Roman Republic. It later went on to become a part of the titulature of the
Roman Emperors as part of their
cognomen. The English word
emperor derives from the Latin word "imperator", via its
French descendent
empereur. There is no direct Latin equivalent of the English word
emperor, however - the Roman Emperors gained authority from a large group of titles and positions, as opposed to any single title. Nevertheless,
Imperator maintained a relatively constant status as a part of a Roman ruler's title throughout the
principate (derived from
princeps, from which we get
prince) and the
dominate.
In Latin, the feminine form of Imperator is
Imperatrix, denoting a ruling
female.
Imperatores in the ancient Roman Kingdom
When Rome was ruled by
kings,
to be able to rule, the king had to be invested with the full regal authority and power. So, after the
comitia curiata, held to elect the king, the king also had to be conferred the imperium.
Imperatores in the Roman Republic
In the
Roman Republic,
imperator was the title assumed by certain military commanders. After an especially great victory, an army's troops in the field would proclaim their commander
imperator, an acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the
Senate for a
triumph. After being acclaimed
imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his
triumph, where he'd relinquish the title as well as his
imperium.
Since a triumph was the goal of many politically ambitious Roman commanders, Roman Republican history is full of cases where
legions were bribed to call their commander
imperator. The title of
imperator was given in 90 BC to a
Gaius Julius Caesar, in 84 BC to
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, in 60 BC to the other, most famous,
Gaius Julius Caesar, relative of the former, in 45 BC again to Caesar, in 44 BC to
Marcus Iunius Brutus, and in 41 BC to
Lucius Antonius (younger brother and ally of the more famous
Marcus Antonius). In 15 AD Tiberius Augustus Germanicus was also
imperator during the empire (see below) of his most famous relative Tiberius Augustus.
Imperator as an imperial title
After
Augustus established the hereditary, one-man rule in Rome that we refer to as the
Roman Empire, the title
imperator was generally restricted to the emperor, though it would occasionally be granted to a member of his family. As a permanent title,
imperator was used as a
praenomen by the Roman emperors and was taken on accession. After the reign of
Tiberius, the act of being proclaimed imperator was transformed into the act of imperial accession. In fact, if a general was acclaimed by his troops as
imperator, it would be tantamount to a declaration of rebellion against the ruling emperor.
In the imperial period, the term did continue to be used in the Republican sense as a
victory title; however, it could only be granted to the emperor, even if he hadn't commanded the victorious army in person. The title followed the emperor's name along with the number of times he was acclaimed as such, for example
IMP V ("imperator five times").
The title
imperator was generally translated into Greek as
autokrator. This title (along with
sebastos for
augustus) was used in Greek-language texts by eastern Roman emperors until the seventh century, when
basileus began to supplant it.
Post-Roman use
After the Roman empire collapsed in the West in the
fifth century, Latin continued to be used as the language of learning and diplomacy for some centuries. The Eastern Roman, or
Byzantine emperors, were referred to as
imperatores in Latin texts.
After
800, the
imperator was used (in conjunction with
augustus) as a formal Latin title in succession by the
Carolingian and German
Holy Roman Emperors until
1806 and by the
Austrian Emperors until
1918.
In
1721, as part of his drive to both
westernize the
Russian Empire and assert his imperial status as a successor to the Byzantine emperors,
Peter the Great imported the Latin word directly into
Russian and styled himself
imperator (IМПЕРАТОРЪ). The style remained the official one for all his successors down to the end of the Russian Empire in
1917, though the Russian rulers continued to be colloquially known as
tsar (a word derived from "Caesar"). Reigning female Russian rulers were styled
imperatritsa.
After the
Napoleonic wars, the number of emperors in Europe proliferated, but Latin began to fall out of use for all but the most ceremonial situations. Still, in those rare cases in which a European monarch's Latin titles were used,
imperator was used as a translation for
emperor. Famously, after assuming the title
Emperor of India, British monarchs would follow their signatures with the initials
RI, standing for
rex imperator ("
king-emperor").
George VI of the United Kingdom was the last European ruler to claim an imperial title; when he abdicated as Emperor of India in
1948, the last active use of the title
imperator ceased.
Imperatrix
The term
imperatrix seems not to have been used in Ancient Rome to indicate the
consort of an imperator or later of an
Emperor. In the early years of the
Roman Empire there was no standard title or honorific for the Emperor's wife, even the
"Augusta" honorific was rather exceptionally granted, and not exclusively to wives of living emperors.
It isn't clear when the feminine form of the Latin term
imperator originated or was used for the first time. It usually indicates a
reigning monarch, and is thus used in the Latin version of titles of modern reigning Empresses.
Likewise, when
Fortuna is qualified "imperatrix mundi" in the
Carmina Burana there's no implication of any type of
consort - the term describes (the Goddess or personified) Fortune "ruling the world".
In Christian context,
Imperatrix became a laudatory address to the
Virgin Mary, in diverse forms at least since the Middle Ages — for example, she's sometimes called "Imperatrix angelorum" ("regnant of the angels").
Derivatives
Imperator is the root of most Romance languages' word for emperor. It is the root of the English word "emperor", which entered the language via the French
empereur, while related adjectives like "imperial" were imported into English directly from Latin. It is also believed to be the ultimate origin of the
Albanian term for king,
mbret.
Other uses
Imperator is also a title used in
occult societies. For example see
AMORC,
Confraternity of the Rose Cross,
FUDOSI.
Imperator Online is also an Alternate Earth
MMORPG by Mythic Entertainment, the makers of
DAOC, one set in a future world where Ancient Rome never fell. Minor changes at important moments in Roman history create an extremely different timeline for Earth, leading to an interstellar Roman Respublica and thousands of years of galactic
Pax Romana. However, the game's production was cancelled in July 2005.
Imperator is also the title taken by that member of the
Rhon taking on the position and responsibilities of the
Military Key, the Commander-in-Chief of the
Skolian Imperialate, from the
Saga of the Skolian Empire by science fiction author
Catherine Asaro. The title is the same regardless of whether taken by a male or female, and is semi-hereditary.
"Imperator" is also a
metal band from central
Scotland.
"Ave Imperator" is a proclamation of loyalty to the
Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind in the fictional universe
Warhammer 40,000.
Pavo muticus imperator ("Imperator" or Indo-Chinese Green Peafowl or Dragonbird) is a subspecies of the endangered
Green Peafowl that has been suggested to be a distinct species.
Bibliography
- Robert Combès
, Imperator : Recherches sur l’emploi et la signification du titre d’Imperator dans la Rome républicaine. Paris : Presses universitaires de France ; Publications de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines de l’Université de Montpellier, 1966, 489 p.
Pilar Rivero, Imperator Populi Romani: una aproximación al poder republicano Zaragoza: Institución Fernando el Católico ; 2006, 514 p.
Further Information
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