ABSTRACT
For all the claims of our earliest source, Josephus, the proclamation of Vespasian was made first in Egypt on 1 July, in Judaea two days later, although Alexandria and Caesarea are 535 kilometres apart by sea. It was planned months before and took place on the day agreed – and, like the declaration for Vitellius, outside the candidate’s own province. Tacitus, like Josephus, stresses the zeal of the soldiers at Caesarea. They did not wait to be harangued by their officers (essential work would have been done beforehand) but saluted Vespasian as he emerged from his bedroom. The state of Italy and the Empire, the will of the gods, and above all the demands of officers and men, acting as an electoral assembly, forced Vespasian to accept. Reluctance was expected.1
