ABSTRACT
On 18 September 96, Domitian was murdered in a palace conspiracy and replaced, on the very same day (eodem die), by one of his amici, the senator M.Cocceius Nerva: the Fasti of Ostia record precisely what happened.1 It was not unplanned. According to Suetonius (Dom. 17.1), when the plotters were hesitating about when and how to kill him, they were approached by Domitilla’s steward Stephanus: for some days, he feigned an injury, covering his arm with bandages so as to conceal a dagger. So it was not done on the spur of the moment. There is no doubt that the conspirators had the time to secure the support of Nerva and of the praetorian guard. That they did so (as is generally assumed2) is by no means certain.
