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→Further reading: adding entry for ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'', s.v. "Imperium" |
→Ancient Rome: placing {{citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=haven't encountered any mention of a baton; toga praetexta (worn by any senator), curule chair, and lictors are the insignia usually mentioned}} |
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''Imperium'' can be distinguished from [[Monarchy|''regnum'']], or royal power, which was inherited. ''Imperium'' was originally a [[military]] concept, the power of the ''[[imperator]]'' (general in the army) to command. The word derives from the Latin verb, ''imperare'' (to command). The title ''imperator'' was applied to the emperor, who was the commander of the armed forces. In fact, the Latin word, ''imperator'', gives us the English word "emperor".<ref>{{cite web|title=Etymology of the word emperor|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/emperor|accessdate=13 January 2018}}</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 (compare the [[field marshal]]'s baton);{{citation needed|date=October 2020|reason=haven't encountered any mention of a baton; toga praetexta (worn by any senator), curule chair, and lictors are the insignia usually mentioned}} any such magistrate was also escorted by ''[[lictor]]s'' bearing the ''[[fasces]]'' (traditional symbols of imperium and authority), when outside the ''[[pomerium]]'', axes being added to the ''fasces'' to indicate an imperial magistrate's power to inflict capital punishment outside Rome (the axes being removed within the ''pomerium''). The number of lictors in [[attendance]] upon a magistrate was an overt indication of the degree of ''imperium''. When in the field, a ''curule'' magistrate possessing an ''imperium'' greater or equal to that of a [[praetor]] wore a sash ritually knotted on the front of his [[cuirass]]. Furthermore, any man executing ''imperium'' within his sphere of influence was entitled to the [[curule chair]].
* Curule [[aedile]] (''aedilis curulis'') – 2 lictors
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