Auctis populi Romani finibus. Lo ius proferendi pomerii in età imperiale e il ‘pomerio romuleo’ di Claudio in Tac. Ann. XII, 24

Abstract

Auctis populi Romani finibus. The ius proferendi pomerii in imperialage and Claudius’ ‘romulean pomerium’ in Tac., Ann. XII, 24.

During Imperial period the ius proferendi pomerii was exercised only byEmperors Claudius and Vespasian. According to both of them the ground ofsuch a right is that engraved on pomerial cippi: auctis p(opuli) R(omani)/finibus pomerium/ ampliaverunt terminaveruntque. Claudius and Vespasianindeed extended the pomerial line because of their imperium enlargement,as Tacitus says: Et pomerium urbis auxit Caesar, more prisco, quo iis quiprotulere imperium etiam terminos urbis propagare datur. The enlargementof the pomerium corresponds with a military conquest on provincial territory,Britannia for Claudius, Judaea for Vespasian. The Tacitean script ishere analized also referring to the excerpt about the pomerium Romuli;Tacitus quotes this excursus from Claudius, who at his turn resortes tolate-republican and Augustean sources. These ones manipulate an ancienttradition relevant to a pomerium passing at the foot of the Palatine hill.Key words: Ius proferendi pomerii – Claudius – Vespasianus – Lex de imperioVespasiani – Vita Aureliani – Tacitus – Seneca
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