Using absolute path when context item is an atomic val

If you do the following (contrived example):

<xsl:for-each select="1 to $max">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="/root/somelem[.]"/>
</xsl:for-each>

You get the error:

  XPTY0020: Cannot select a node here: the context item is an atomic value
Failed to compile stylesheet. 1 error detected.

Why can't I use an absolute path here -why does it matter what the
context item is?

(I'm using Saxon 851b)