Roman theology of victory

Innovations were introduced beginning in Augustus' reign so that it was widely embraced by the time Commodus became the emperor.

[5] In Rome, the logic of the concept emphasized how felicitas (good fortune or luck) is granted to the victor, who demonstrated virtus or courage, manliness, and aggression.

When Rome eased into the Principate, however, the felicitas connoted divine gift and formed part of the imperial theology of victory.

It held that successful conquest indicated a projection of supernatural gifts, legitimizing both sovereignty and divine status.

[8] His authority was the basis of military prowess and articulated in the tradition that all victory stemmed from Jupiter's providence.

Using this propaganda cemented that stature of new emperor's such as Diocletian, particularly, among a restive Roman military and in an empire fresh from a bruising civil conflict.

[10] The Flavians would reinforce this through the adoption of Christianity and the imperial policy of peaceful co-existence in the drive to get the Roman empire to be viewed as a benefactor of the world.

[12] This appropriation and reformulation of the Roman theology of victory replaced the imprint of the emperor's boot on a subdued people's back with the embrace of religion as the measure of subjection.