happen at any time, and at irregular intervals, during an emperor’s
reign: for example, an emperor might receive several such accla-
mations in any given year, but none at all in another year. In the
case of Claudius, for example, it seems that his conquest of Britain
raised the number of his acclamations as imperatorfrom three in
43 (before the invasion) to at least five, and perhaps as many as
nine, in 44 (after the invasion) (Levick 1990: 143–4). Precise dates
corresponding to years can be calculated from the emperor’s
holding of the tribunician power. In the Gallio inscription that
detail is missing, but we can attempt to determine it by estab-
lishing when Claudius received his twenty-sixth such acclamation.
The easiest approach is to begin by determining the upper
limit for the date. A perfectly preserved inscription in Greek from
Cys in Caria in south-western Asia Minor gives Claudius’ titles
as follows:Tiberius Claudius Caesar Germanicus Imperator Divine
Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, holding the tribunician power
for the twelfth time, consul five times, acclaimed imperator
twenty-six times, father of the fatherland.
(Smallwood 1967: no. 135)It is the emperor’s holding of the tribunician power that enables
us to date this inscription more precisely. An emperor received
this power on his accession to the throne and it was renewed
on the anniversary of that event every year thereafter for the rest
of the reign. Claudius became emperor on 25 January 41; there-
fore he held the tribunician power for the twelfth time from
25 January 52 until 24 January 53. Since the Gallio inscription
also mentions Claudius as having been acclaimed imperator
for the twenty-sixth time it is possible that it, like the Cys
inscription, dates to that year.
That the Gallio inscription is no laterthan the year from 25
January 52 to 24 January 53 is demonstrated by another inscrip-
tion, this time in Latin, from the Porta Praenestina (now the
Porta Maggiore) in Rome. This text commemorates Claudius’CONTEXTS FOR THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY
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