The spolia opima (Latin for 'rich spoils') were the armour, arms, and other effects that an ancient Roman general stripped from the body of an opposing commander slain in single combat.
The precedent was imagined in Rome's mythical history, which tells that in 752 BC Romulus defeated and stripped Acron, king of the Caeninenses, following the Rape of the Sabine Women.
[3] The third and most historically grounded occurred before the Second Punic War, when Marcus Claudius Marcellus (consul 222 BC) galloped forward beyond his battle line and speared the Celtic warrior Viridomarus, a king of the Gaesatae, before stripping him of his armour on the battlefield.
[6] During the early years of the imperial regime, in 27 BC, M Licinius Crassus (grandson of the triumvir) after victories in Macedonia requested a triumph and right to dedicate spolia opima due to his slaying of an enemy chieftain in hand-to-hand combat.
[9] Nero Claudius Drusus, a Roman general of the first century BC and member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, sought out Germanic chieftains to face in single combat during his campaigns.