tropaion

thumb|200px|A Roman tropaeum from the Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacian Wars ([[Trajan's Column 113 AD), note the tree trunk with arm-like branches and the heaped armor and weapons at its base]] thumb|350px|A Roman tropaeum in process of erection in the presence of male and female captives, detail from the Gemma Augustea, circa 20-30 AD thumb|200px|A fully erected Roman tropaeum with shackled and addorsed seated man and woman Sarmatians|Sarmatian captives (the woman on the right with head resting on hand, perhaps representing the defeated "Sarmatia") tied to base, [[Dupondius from reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, AD 161-180]] A tropaion (, ), from which the English word "trophy" is derived, was a monument erected to commemorate a victory over one's foes by the ancient Greeks and later, by the Romans. The armour of the defeated foe would be hung upon the monument. Originally, the location of the monument was the battlefield where the commemorated victory took place. Initially, the typical monument was constructed out of a living tree with lateral branches, or it was constructed in the shape of one. After construction, the tropaion was dedicated to a deity in thanksgiving for the victory. Some images of tropaion show many weapons and shields heaped below the armor hoisted upon the monument. In later times, pairs of lances, banners, or stakes set crosswise might be used instead of the tree format.

==Greece== In the Greek city-states of the Archaic period, a tropaion would be set up on the battlefield itself, usually at the site of the "turning point" (Gk. tropê) at which the routed enemy's phalanx broke, turned, and ran. The monument would be dressed in the typical hoplite panoply of the period, including (at different times), a helmet, cuirass (either of bronze or linen), and a number of shields, etc., would be piled about the base. It remained on the battlefield until the campaigns of the following seasons (since battles often were fought in the same, relatively few plains amid Greece's numerous mountains), whereupon it might be replaced with a new trophy.