Editing Imperium (section)

== Ancient Rome ==
''Imperium'' originally meant [[Monarchy|absolute or kingly power]]—the word being derived from the Latin verb ''imperare'' (to command)—which became somewhat limited under the Republic by the collegiality of the republican magistrates and the right of appeal, or ''[[Valerian and Porcian laws|provocatio]]'', on the part of citizens. ''Imperium'' remained absolute in the army, and the power of the ''[[imperator]]'' (army commander) to punish remained uncurtailed. The title ''imperator'' later was exclusively held by the emperor, as the commander of the armed forces. In fact, the Latin word ''imperator'' is the root of the English word ''emperor''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Etymology of the word emperor|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/emperor|access-date=13 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="OCD1996">{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Hornblower |editor1-first=Simon |editor1-link=Simon Hornblower |editor2-last=Spawforth |editor2-first=Antony |title=Imperium |url=https://archive.org/details/TheOxfordClassicalDictionary/page/n807/mode/2up |date=1996 |pages=751–752 |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]] |edition=3rd |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-866172-6 |ref={{sfnref|OCD|1996}} |access-date=31 October 2020}}
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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>{{cite book |last1=Kay-Bujak |first1=Philip |title=The Life of Cicero: Lessons for Today from the Greatest Orator of the Roman Republic |date=30 December 2023 |publisher=Pen and Sword History |isbn=978-1-3990-9744-4 |page=56 |language=en}}</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;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mulligan |first1=Bret |title=The Crisis of Catiline: Rome, 63 BCE |date=24 October 2023 |publisher=UNC Press Books |isbn=979-8-89086-256-3 |page=139 |language=en}}</ref> 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
** 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
* [[Roman dictator|Dictator]] – 24 lictors outside the pomerium and 12 inside; starting from the dictatorship of [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Lucius Sulla]] the latter rule was ignored.
** To symbolize that the dictator could enact capital punishment within Rome as well as without, his lictors did not remove the axes from their fasces within the pomerium.

As can be seen, dictatorial ''imperium'' was superior to consular, consular to praetorian, and praetorian to aedilician; there is some historical dispute as to whether or not praetorian ''imperium'' was superior to "equine-magisterial" ''imperium''. A [[promagistrate]], or a man executing a ''curule'' office without actually holding that office, also possessed ''imperium'' in the same degree as the actual incumbents (i.e., proconsular ''imperium'' being more or less equal to consular ''imperium'', propraetorian ''imperium'' to praetorian) and was attended by an equal number of ''lictors''.

Certain extraordinary [[Officer (armed forces)|commissions]], such as [[Pompey]]'s famous command against the [[Piracy|pirates]], were invested with ''imperium maius'', meaning they outranked all other holders of ''imperium'' of the same type or rank (in Pompey's case, even the consuls) within their sphere of command (his being "ultimate on the seas, and within 50 miles inland"). ''Imperium maius'' later became a hallmark of the [[Roman emperor]].

Another technical use of the term in [[Roman law]] was for the power to extend the [[law]] beyond its mere interpretation, extending ''imperium'' from formal legislators under the ever-republican constitution: popular assemblies, senate, magistrates, emperor and their delegates to the [[jurisprudence]] of [[jurisconsult]]s.