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{{Italics title}}
{{Wiktionary}}
In [[ancient Rome]], '''''imperium''''' was a form of authority held by a [[Roman citizenship|citizen]] to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from ''[[auctoritas]]'' and ''[[potestas]]'', different and generally inferior types of power in the [[Roman Republic]] and [[Roman Empire|Empire]]. One's ''imperium'' could be over a specific [[Roman legion|military unit]], or it could be over a [[Roman province|province or territory]]. Individuals given such power were referred to as curule [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]] or [[promagistrate]]s. These included the curule [[aedile]], the [[praetor]], the [[Roman consul|consul]], the ''[[magister equitum]]'', and the [[Roman dictator|dictator]]. In a general sense, ''imperium'' was the scope of someone's power, and could include anything, such as public office, commerce, political influence, or wealth.
== Ancient Rome ==
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In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' could be used as a term indicating a characteristic of people, their wealth in property, or the measure of formal power they had. This qualification could be used in a rather loose context (for example, poets used it, not necessarily writing about state officials). However, in Roman society, it was also a more formal concept of [[Right|legal authority]]. A man with ''imperium'' (an ''imperator'') had, in principle, absolute authority to apply the law within the scope of his [[Roman magistrate|magistracy]] or [[promagistrate|promagistracy]]. He could be [[veto]]ed or overruled either by a magistrate or promagistrate who was a colleague with equal power (e.g., a fellow [[Roman consul|consul]]), by one whose ''imperium'' outranked his – that is, one of ''imperium maius'' (greater ''imperium''), or by a [[tribune of the plebs]].
Some modern [[scholar]]s such as [[A. H. M. Jones]] have defined ''imperium'' as "the power vested by the state in a person to do what he considers to be in the best interests of the state".<ref>{{
''Imperium'' was indicated in two prominent ways: a ''[[curule]]'' magistrate or promagistrate carried an ivory baton surmounted by an eagle as his personal symbol of office
* Curule [[aedile]] (''aedilis curulis'') – 2 lictors
** Since a plebeian aedile (aedilis plebis) was not vested with imperium, he was not escorted by lictors.
* ''[[Magister equitum]]'' (the [[Roman dictator|dictator]]'s deputy) – 6 lictors
* [[Praetor]] – 6 lictors (2 lictors within the pomerium)
* [[Roman consul|Consul]] – 12 lictors each
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In one bitter episode, [[Pope Gregory IX]], who had several times mediated between the Lombards and the [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]], reasserted his right to arbitrate between the contending parties. In the numerous manifestos of the Pope and the Emperor the antagonism between Church and State became more evident: the Pope claimed for himself the ''imperium animarum'' ("command of the souls", i.e. voicing God's will to the faithful) and the ''principatus rerum et corporum in universo mundo'' ("primacy over all things and bodies in the whole world"), while the Emperor wished to restore the ''imperium mundi'', ''imperium'' (as under Roman Law) over the (now Christian) world. Rome was again to be the capital of the world and Frederick was to become the real emperor of the Romans, so he energetically protested against the authority of the Pope. The emperor's successes, especially his victory over the Lombards at the [[battle of Cortenuova]] (1237), only aggravated tensions between Church and State. The pope again excommunicated the "self-confessed heretic", the "blasphemous beast of the Apocalypse" (20 March 1239) who now attempted to conquer the rest of Italy (i.e., the [[papal states]], et cetera).
== See also ==
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