Tacitus On Vespasian

“The first move to convey imperial status to Vespasian took place at Alexandria. This was due to the eagerness of Tiberius Alexander, who caused his legions to swear allegiance to the new emperor on 1 July. The date was afterwards honoured as that of his accession though on 3 July the army of Judaea had taken the oath before Vespasian in person. Such was the enthusiasm that they acted without even waiting for the arrival of his son Titus, who was on his way back from Syria, where he had acted as the link between Mucianus and his father in their negotiations. The whole affair was carried through by a spontaneous move on the part of the troops, and there was no time to arrange a formal parade or concentrate the scattered legions.”” (Tacitus Histories II.79)

This narrative from Tacitus' Histories refers to the seemingly spontaneous proclamation of Vespasian as Emperor of Rome in AD69. This event ultimately lead to the end of the civil war that had seen three emperors proclaimed and killed in the space of a year in Rome. That the army had proclaimed Vespasian on July 1 is also backed up by Suetonius (Suet. Vesp.6) and by Dio (REF) However Josephus does not date the event, and states that the Judean legions were the first to proclaim Vespasian (BJ, 601)..

Despite the absence of detail within this passage, the acclamation of Vespasian by the troops was the culmination of a series of political manipulations which had been designed and carried out, by the three men mentioned, in the months leading up to July 1.

Tiberius Alexander was the prefect of Egypt. Both he and Mucianus had a long associate with Vespasian through their united effort against a common enemy in the Jewish war (Levick, 1999, p. 54). Additionally both men had served under Corbulo (Levick, 1999, pp. 56-57). Between the four of them they had control of over one third of the Armies and auxillaries of the Empire as well as complete control of the grain in Egypt which fed Rome. Vespasian had the loyalty of the troops (somewhat manipulated in speeches by Mucianus in Antioch (Tac. II.80) and Tiberius in Alexandria (REF (Levick, 1999, p. 57)), and Tacitus tells us those troops were spoiling to go into battle whilst Ottho and Vitellius were in a leadership battle following the death of Galba (Tac. II. 7).

Tacitus also outlines word of supernatural signs that "seemed to show that Vespasian had enjoyed devine blessing and that the gods were leaning favorably towards him" (Tac. IV.81) these events were designed to convince local populations in the east of Vespasians 'god like' status (Levick, 1999, p. 67). This would be particularly relevant to maintain Egypt as to receive 'god like' status there allows Vespasian to obtain official authority there (Henrichs, 1968)

The weeks following July 1 saw Mucianus march west to take the battle to Vitellius, Titus was sent to finish the war in Judea and Vespasian himself entered Alexandria with the intention of withholding grain supplies to Rome and plan an invasion of Africa to lay claim to that province if required (Tac. III.48).

Flavian Propaganda produced by other historians of the day (such as Josephus) proclaimed that Vespasian was reluctant to take the throne and he only did so under coercion of his troops for the good of the state. His writings differ in some detail to Tacitus and Suetonius (REF). I believe that Tacitus is revising what had previously been stated and shown that Vespasian's aspirations were premeditated and not a spontaneous declaration by the military.

Vespasian's acknowledgement of July 1 as the day of his accession is his direct acknowledgement that it was the Army and the contribution of Tiberius Alexander who made him Emperor, not the Senate who, fearing to contradict the army, were merely ratifying declaration, (just as they had with Vespasian's predecessors). Tacitus here is subtly demonstrating his public observation that "it was possible, it seemed, for an emperor to be chosen outside Rome" (Tac. 1.4).