ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 analyses the specific qualities and extent of the imperium held by members of the domus Augusta as they carried out their missions in provinces. The sources indicate clearly that, unlike ordinary provincial governors, they acted based on a special (extra ordinem) imperium, independent in the sense that it gave its holder the right to be granted an ovation, triumph, or imperatorial acclamation in the event of a successful campaign. In the case of some members of the imperial family, this imperium was also superior to (maius quam) the imperia of other provincial governors. Furthermore, its territorial range generally covered more than one province, and members of the emperor’s family did not formally hold any offices in the provincial administration (such as legatus Augusti pro praetore or proconsul) while they carried out their missions. Thus, it was characteristic of their powers that they, like Augustus’s powers, were separated from the offices they traditionally accompanied. They held imperium even though they were neither magistrates nor promagistrates cum imperio. The analysis I carry out in this chapter of some extraordinary commands of the late Republican period demonstrates beyond any doubt that the special prerogatives held by Augustus and select members of the imperial family in the provinces were republican in origin.
