ABSTRACT
The final step in the development of an imperial system was for someone to inherit successfully Augustus’ political position as well as his family estate. After Augustus’ adoptive sons Gaius and Lucius died in the first few years of the Common Era, Tiberius stood out as his only likely heir. In his seventies, Augustus left little of this potential transfer of power to chance. In 4 C.E., he indicated that he intended Tiberius to succeed him in both the magisterial and familial modes of expressing authority developed during his first thirtyfive years of rule; Tiberius not only received tribunicia potestas and a special grant of imperium, but Augustus also adopted him as a son.
