(imperator), among the ancient Romans, signified the general of an army, who, for some extraordinary success, had been complimented with this appellation. Thus Augustus, having obtained no less than twenty famous victories, was as often saluted with the title; and Titus was thus styled by his army after the reduction of Jerusalem. Subsequently it came to denote an absolute monarch or supreme commander of an empire. In this sense Julius Caesar was called imperator. The same title descended with the dignity to Octavianus Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula; and afterwards it became elective. In strictness the title emperor does not, and cannot, add anything to the rights of sovereignty. In the East the title of emperor is more frequent than in Europe. Thus, the sovereign princes of China, Japan, Mogul, &c., are all emperors. In Europe, the first who bore the title was Charlemagne, who assumed it on his coronation at Rome by Pope Leo III.