three questions RE Caesar

[ASCLEPIADES]

As an (over)compensation for relinquishing the consulship (eleventh time) at 731 AUC(23 BC), Octavius (aka Augustus since 727 AUC) gained permanent Imperium proconsulare maius over the provinces as part of the "second settlement".

 

From en. wikipedia article "Imperator":

"In the late Roman Republic, after an especially great victory, the army proclaimed their commander imperator, an acclamation necessary to apply to the Senate for a triumph. The victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph, where he would relinquish the title as well as his imperium. The title was given in 90 BC to a G. Julius Caesar, in 84 BC to G. Pompeius Magnus, in 60 BC to the other, most famous, G. Julius Caesar, relative of the former, in 45 BC again to Caesar, in 44 BC to MI Brutus, and in 41 BC to L. Antonius. In 15 AD TA Germanicus was also imperator during the empire of his relative Tiberius Augustus.

 

After Augustus established the hereditary, one-man rule in Rome , the title imperator was generally restricted to the emperor, though it would occasionally be granted to a member of his family. As a permanent title, imperator was used as a praenomen by the Roman emperors and was taken on accession. The act of being proclaimed imperator was transformed into the act of imperial accession. In fact, if a general was acclaimed by his troops as imperator, it would be tantamount to a declaration of rebellion against the ruling emperor.

 

In the imperial period, the term did continue to be used in the Republican sense as a victory title; however, it could only be granted to the emperor, even if he had not commanded the victorious army in person. The title followed the emperor's name along with the number of times he was acclaimed as such, for example IMP V ("imperator five times")."

[Primus Pilus]

regardless of coinage, the fact that the Fasti makes this distinction would incline me to think that Caesar's use of 'Imperator' was not a part of his official nomenclature, as it was with Octavian/Augustus.

 

I tend to agree here. The evidence for the title in the principate and beyond is overwhelming. However, I do find it notable that it is only Sulla, and then Caesar who use the title on coinage at all. While many had the right to use it officially as part of the triumphal procedures, I don't believe that any Republican moneyer ever issued a coin with the IMP legend in relation to anyone else.

 

[edit] I take that back, Brutus used it as well... notably on the famous EID MAR coin. My apologies as this has little to do with Frankq's original questions, but I had to satisfy my own curiosity.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

According to Livius the first Roman ever to be given or to use the title of Imperator was Publius Cornelius Scipio during the second Punic Wars after he had expelled the Carthaginians from the Iberian Peninsula.

 

From Polybius, World History 10.40.2-5

 

The Iberians came in to submit to the Romans, and on meeting Scipio saluted him as king. Edeco was the first who had done this and made obeisance to him, and he had been followed by Andobales. On that occasion Scipio had paid no great attention and did not particularly notice the appellation, but when all addressed him as king, the matter gave him pause. He therefore assembled the Iberians and told them that he wished to be called kingly by them and actually to be kingly, but that he did not wish to be king or to be called so by any one. After saying this he ordered them to call him imperator.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Chronologically, the first use of the word "Imperator" by Titus Livius in Ab Urbe Condita wasn't even for a Roman, but for Mamilius, the Latin enemy commander in the battle fought at Lake Regillus (258 AUC / 496 BC).

Here comes Liber II, Ch. XX:

 

"Ibi alia inter proceres coorta pugna. Imperator Latinus, ubi cohortem exsulum a dictatore Romano prope circumuentam uidit, ex subsidiariis manipulos aliquot in primam aciem secum rapit. Hos agmine uenientes T. Herminius legatus conspicatus, interque eos insignem ueste armisque Mamilium noscitans,"

 

" There another engagement took place between the leading officers. The Latin general, on seeing the cohort of the exiles almost surrounded by the Roman dictator, hurried up some companies of reserves to the front. Titus Herminius, a lieutenant-general, seeing them advancing in a body, and recognising Mamilius, distinguished among them by his armour and dress,"

(Translation by John Henry Freese, Alfred John Church, and William Jackson Brodribb, 1904)

 

"Another single combat between the leaders took place; the Latin commander saw the cohort of exiles almost hemmed in by the Roman Dictator, and hurried to the front with some maniples of the reserves. T. Herminius saw them coming, and recognised Mamilius by his dress and arms."

(Translation by Rev. Canon Roberts)