List of Roman imperial victory titles


This is a list of victory titles assumed by Roman Emperors, not including assumption of the title Imperator ; note that the Roman Emperors were not the only persons to assume victory titles. In a sense, the Imperial victory titles give an interesting summary of which wars and which adversaries were considered significant by the senior leadership of the Roman Empire, but in some cases more opportunistic motifs play a role, even to the point of glorifying a victory that was by no means a real triumph.
Multiple grants of the same title were distinguished by ordinals, e.g. Germanicus Maximus IV, "great victor in Germania for the fourth time".
Heraclius was the last emperor to use ethnic victory titles before the twelfth century. In 612 he proclaimed himself victor over the Alamanni, Goths, Franks, Germans, Antae, Alans, Vandals, Africans, Heruls and Gepids. Manuel I Komnenos revived the practice in 1166, calling himself Isauricus, Cilicius, Armenicus, Dalmaticus, Ugricus, Bosniacus, Chrobaticus, Lazicus, Ibericus, Bulgaricus, Serbicus, Zikhicus, Azaricus, Gothicus. This was not just classical imitation. There was a legal basis for each of these fourteen claims of victory.