Triumph (Lat. triumphus) was the name given in ancient Rome to the public honour bestowed on a general who had been successful in war. It consisted in a solemn procession along the Via Sacra up to the Capitol, where sacrifice was offered to Jupiter. The victor stood in a chariot, drawn by four horses—his captives marching before, his troops following behind.
The ovation (from ovare, 'to shout,' 'exult'), or lesser triumph, differed from the greater chiefly in these respects, that the emperor entered the city on foot, clad in the simple toga prae-texta of a magistrate, instead of with the toga picta and the tunica palmata of the more highly honoured commander, that he bore no sceptre, was not preceded by the senate and a flourish of trumpets, nor followed by his victorious troops, but only by the equites and the populace. The ovation was granted when the success, though considerable, did not fulfil the conditions specified for a triumph, or if the conqueror had not been in supreme command. For triumphal arch, see ARCH.