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In order to receive a triumph, the ''dux'' must:
1. Win a significant victory over a foreign enemy, killing at least 5,000 enemy troops.
2. Be an elected magistrate with the power of imperium, i.e. a consul or a praetor.
3. Bring the army home, signifying that the war was over and that the army was no longer needed. Of course this only applied to the Republican era when the army was a citizen army. By the imperial period, when the army was professional, the proper triumph was reserved for the emperor and his family. If a general was awarded a triumph by the emperor, he would march with a token amount of his troops.
4. In the Republican period, the senate had to give approval for a triumph based on the above mentioned requirements.

The ceremony consisted of a spectacular Parade , opened by the chiefs of conquered peoples (afterwards executed in the Tullianum ), followed by wagons of gold and other valuable spoils captured during the campaign (including slaves), musicians, dancers, placards drawn with scenes of the war, then came the victorious general at the head of his troops (in the late republic and imperial times it was only a token body of troops rather than the entire army). It was a concrete exhibit of the spoils brought to the patrimony of ''Senatus Populusque Romanus'' ( S.P.Q.R. ). showing a triumph after the Sack Of Jerusalem in 78 .]]

The ''triumphator'' rode on a '' Biga '', a Chariot pulled by two white Horse s. A Slave behind the ''triumphator'' held a Laurel Crown over his head (not touching it). Notably, this slave had to repeat continuously ''" Memento Mori ."'' ("Remember thou art mortal.") The ceremony's origin, though shrouded by antiquity, perhaps derives from earlier Etruscan rituals.

The parade followed a precise route in the streets of Rome , starting outside the Servian Walls of the city, in the Campus Martius on the western bank of the Tiber . The ''triumphator'' would then cross the '' Pomerium '' into the city through the '' Via Triumphalis '' (which centuries later was reopened as the current '' Via Dei Fori Imperiali '' by Benito Mussolini so that he, too, could march in triumph) and travel along the Via Sacra into the ''Forum Romanum'' . The triumph reached its climax at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline , where the triumphing general offered Laurel s of victory to the god.

To better celebrate the triumph, a monument was sometimes erected. This is the origin of the Arch Of Titus and the Arch Of Constantine , not far from the Colosseum , or perhaps near a battle site as is the case for the Tropaeum Traiani . Also, the monumental Meta Sudans was erected by the Flavians to mark the point where the triumph route turned from the ''Via Triumphalis'' into the Via Sacra and the Forum.

After the establishment of the Principate , only members of the Imperial family were awarded with triumphs. Other citizens were awarded with Ornamenta triumphalia (triumphal regalia), so that the Imperial familiy could better keep hold on avenues to power and advancement.

Flavius Belisarius was the last person to receive a triumph (ostensibly "sitting in" for Emperor Justinian I ), in recognition for his victory over the Vandals . It was held in Constantinople .


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