Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard (sometimes Prætorian Guard) (in Latin: praetoriani) comprised a special force of bodyguards used by Roman emperors. Before them it was used by warlords, back at least to the Scipio family — around 275 BC.

History

The term "Praetorian" came from the tent of the commanding general or praetor of a Roman army in the field—the praetorium. It was a habit of many Roman generals to choose from the ranks a private force of soldiers to act as bodyguards of the tent or the person. They consisted of both infantry and cavalry. In time, this cohort came to be known as the cohors praetoria, and various notable figures possessed one, including Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and Augustus Caesar (Octavianus). As Caesar discovered with the Legio X Equestris, a powerful unit more dangerous than its fellow legions was desirable in the field. When Augustus became the first ruler of the Roman Empire in 27 BC, he decided such a formation was useful not only in war but in politics. Thus, from the ranks of the legions throughout the provinces, Augustus recruited the Praetorian Guard.

Related Topics:
Praetor - Roman army - Cohort - Julius Caesar - Mark Antony - Augustus Caesar - Legio X ''Equestris'' - Roman Empire - 27 BC

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Early Guard

The group that was formed initially differed greatly from the later Guard, which would murder emperors. While Augustus understood the need to have a protector in the maelstrom of Rome, he was careful to uphold the Republican veneer of his regime. Thus he allowed only nine cohorts to be formed, each 500 to 1,000 men, and only three were kept on duty at any given time in the capital. A small number of detached cavalry units (turma) of 30 men each were also organized. While they patrolled inconspicuously, in the palace and major buildings, the others were stationed in the towns surrounding Rome; no threats were possible from these individual cohorts. This system was not radically changed with the arrival of two Praetorian prefects in 2 BC, Q Ostorius Scapula and Salvius Aper, although organization and command were improved.

Related Topics:
Rome - Prefect - 2 BC

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Augustus' death on August 19, AD 14, marked the end of Praetorian calm. Through the machinations of their ambitious prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Guard was brought from the Italian barracks into Rome itself. In 23, Sejanus convinced Tiberius to have the Castra Praetoria (the camp of the Praetorians) built just outside of Rome. One of these cohorts held the daily guard at the imperial palace. Henceforth the entire Guard was at the disposal of the emperors, but the rulers were now equally at the mercy of the Praetorians. The reality of this was seen in 31 when Tiberius was forced to rely upon his own cohors praetoria against partitions of Sejanus. Though the Praetorian Guard proved faithful to the aging Tiberius, their potential political power had been made clear.

Related Topics:
August 19 - AD - 14 - Lucius Aelius Sejanus - 23 - Tiberius - 31

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While campaigning, the Praetorians were the equal of any formation in the Roman Army. Seldom used in the early reigns, they were quite active by 69. They fought well at the first battle of Bedriacum for Otho. Under Domitian and Trajan, the guard took part in wars from Dacia to Mesopotamia, while with Marcus Aurelius, years were spent on the Danubian frontier. Throughout the 3rd century, the Praetorians assisted the emperors in various campaigns.

Related Topics:
69 - Battle of Bedriacum - Otho - Domitian - Trajan - Dacia - Mesopotamia - Marcus Aurelius - 3rd century

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Political meddling

Following the death of Sejanus, who was sacrificed for the Donativum (imperial gift) promised by Tiberius, the Guards began to play an increasingly ambitious and bloody game in the Empire. With the right amount of money, or at will, they assassinated emperors, bullied their own prefects, or turned on the people of Rome. In 41 Caligula was killed by conspirators from the senatorial class and from the Guard. The Praetorians placed Claudius on the throne, daring the senate to oppose their decision.

Related Topics:
Sejanus - Donativum - 41 - Caligula - Claudius

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While the Guard had the power to kill off emperors, it had no role in government administration, unlike the personnel of the palace, the Senate, and the bureaucracy. Often after an outrageous act of violence, revenge by the new ruler was forthcoming. In 193 Didius Julianus purchased the Empire from the Guard for a vast sum, after the Guard auctioned it off. Later that year Septimius Severus marched into Rome, disbanded the Praetorians and started a new formation from his own Pannonian Legions. Even Vespasian in 69, who relied upon the disgruntled cohorts dismissed by Vitellius, reduced their rank in number when ascending the throne. Unruly mobs in Rome fought often with the Praetorian in Maximinus Thrax's reign in vicious street battles.

Related Topics:
193 - Didius Julianus - Septimius Severus - Vespasian - 69 - Vitellius - Maximinus Thrax

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In 271 Aurelian sailed east to destroy the power of Palmyra, Syria with a force of legionary detachments, Praetorian cohorts, and other cavalry units. The Palmyrans were easily defeated. This led to the orthodox view that Diocletian and his colleagues evolved the sacer comitatus (the field escort of the emperors) which included field units that utilized selection process, command structure, and modeled after the old Praetorian cohorts, but was not of uniform composition and was much larger than a Praetorian cohort.

Related Topics:
271 - Aurelian - Palmyra, Syria - Diocletian

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Guard's Twilight Years

In 284 Diocletian reduced the status of the Praetorians; they were no longer to be part of palace life, as Diocletian lived in Nicomedia, some 60 miles from Byzantium in Asia Minor. Two new corps, the Jovians and Herculians (named after the gods Iove=Iuppiter and Hercules, associated with the senior and junior emperor), replaced the Praetorians as the personal protectors of the emperors, a practice that remained intact with the tetrarchy. By the time Diocletian retired on May 1, 305, their barracks (Castra Praetoria) seems to have housed only a minor garrison of Rome.

Related Topics:
284 - Diocletian - Nicomedia - Byzantium - Asia Minor - Jovians - Herculians - Tetrarchy - May 1 - 305

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The final act of the Praetorians in imperial history started in 306, when Maxentius, son of the retired emperor Maximian, was passed over as a successor: the troops took matters into their own hands and elevated him to the position of emperor in Italy on October 28. Caesar Flavius Valerius Severus, following the orders of Galerius, attempted to disband the Guard but only managed to lead the rest of them in revolting and joining Maxentius. When Constantine the Great, launching an invasion of Italy in 312, forced a final confrontation at the Milvian Bridge, the Praetorian cohorts made up most of Maxentius' army. Later in Rome, the victorious Constantine definitively disbanded the Praetorian Guard. The soldiers were sent out to various corners of the Empire, and the Castra Praetoria was demolished. For over 300 years they had served, and the destruction of their fortress was a grand gesture, inaugurating a new age of imperial history and ending the Praetorians.

Related Topics:
306 - Maxentius - Maximian - October 28 - Caesar - Flavius Valerius Severus - Galerius - Constantine the Great - 312 - Milvian Bridge

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