ABSTRACT
When Augustus died on 19 August AD 14, aged 75, there could be no doubt what would happen in the transfer of power within the Roman state. Augustus had enjoyed exceptional formal powers granted by the state to the day of his death, with overall control of all the provinces in which more than one legion was based. But the formal powers of his stepson Tiberius, whom he had adopted ten years previously, were hardly less. Tiberius too had the right to overrule other provincial commanders in the interests of the state. The procession which slowly bore Augustus’ body on foot the 147 Roman miles from Nola to Rome in the hot August of AD 14 could afford to take its time. Tiberius was already in command, and had issued orders to the soldiers throughout the empire as their new commander-in-chief (Tacitus, Annals 1.7).1
