Imperator

Imperator: "Imperator

Imperator ('commander'): Roman title, awarded to victorious commanders and emperors.
Iberian origin

The Roman word imperator simply means 'commander' or 'general' and is the equivalent of Greek strategos. However, the expression had a second, more specific meaning, which comes close to Greek strategos autokrator, 'commander and ruler'. This was a honorific title, first awarded during the Second Punic War (218-202) to the Roman commander Publius Cornelius Scipio, who had expelled the Carthaginians from the Iberian peninsula. The story is told by Polybius of Megalopolis:

The Iberians [...] came in to submit to the Romans, and on meeting Scipio saluted him as king. Edeco was the first who had done this and made obeisance to him, and he had been followed by Andobales. On that occasion Scipio had paid no great attention and did not particularly notice the appellation, but when [...] all addressed him as king, the matter gave him pause. He therefore assembled the Iberians and told them that he wished to be called kingly by them and actually to be kingly, but that he did not wish to be king or to be called so by any one. After saying this he ordered them to call him imperator."