Via Sacra

inning a war was a glorious thing. Coming back to Rome and being received there after another triumph was something every general and soldier must have looked forward to. They marched into Rome taking the Via Sacra. There they marched: the glorious leader with his soldiers, accompanied by the best part of the booty and the prisoners of war , better even the leader or king of the enemy. By way of the Via Sacra the heroes walked across the Roman Forum onto the Capitol. Part of the booty was put in the temple of Jupiter. Offerings were made to the supreme god. Organising triumphal marches was the highest honour for the magistrates, who ran the state and led the armies. During the imperial era this honour was reserved for the emperor himself and for his closest relatives. In the course of so many glorious years the standard route by way of the Via Sacra got strewn with triumphal arches and other monuments and statues. There is no place in Rome that has so many monuments and arches on such a short stretch of road as the Via Sacra.