5 Things You May Not Know About the Praetorian Guard
The Praetorian Guard was an ancient powerful military institution that served as secret police, police, kingmakers, firefighters, emergency services providers, and administrators in urban Rome.
The Praetorian Guard was an elite military unit that originated as personal bodyguards in the Roman Republic to protect generals, magistrates, high-rank officers in legions, governors, senators, and other high-up noble persons.
They also worked as intelligence forces, firefighters, and were often deployed to disperse mobs on the streets in emergency times. However, with the transition of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, the first Roman Emperor kept them for his security and they played this role for over three centuries.
But over these three centuries, they grew to be powerful even more than the emperor and other people. Their political clout spread so much as to cover the throne of Rome itself.
They resorted to overthrowing, the assassination of emperors, and even auctioned the throne. This became unbearable for Constantine the Great and he crushed them along with their barracks at the Castra Praetoria in 312 A.D.
1# Origin of the Praetorian Guards
The Praetorian originated during the Roman Republic as special guards to Roman generals, magistrates, and other high-rank officials and politicians. However, according to earlier records around 275 BC, they were first employed as bodyguards for the Scipio family.
Still, there was no such permanent formation of bodyguards units throughout the republic. The generals would often handpick a few soldiers to protect them on the battlefields. In the Siege of Numantia, general Scipio Aemilianus formed a group of 500 men to protect himself from the enemies.
The concept of personal protection spread during the generals and they adopted the same strategy to apply more guards around their tents when on the campaigns. The guards were used as the last resort to protection as well as attack the enemy. Their tent they would live in was called the praetorium.
When Octavian became the first Roman Emperor as Augustus in 27 BC., he took these praetorians as his guards. The institution worked for over 300 years when Constantine finally disbanded them in 312 A.D.
2# They acted as a secret Police Force
To protect the emperor, the Praetorians also had to be vigilant of the conspiracies and hidden agendas of the powerful people around.
The Roman Republic was full of conspiracies that caused much of the civil wars and social unrest. To avoid that, the Praetorians worked as intelligence agents by engaging in espionage, assassination, intimidation, and kidnapping to safeguard the interest of the empire and emperor.
To perform this job, the Praetorian devised a special wing within its troops called “Speculatores” to serve as intelligence operatives in disguise. They worked much like today’s secret intelligence agencies.
They were unnoticeable and lived in common citizens, and they were everywhere. They mingled with people as spectators to watch gladiator competitions, went to theatrical performances, and even took part in protests against the policies of the emperor to see who were the critics of the emperor or his policies. Most times, they would secretly assassinate the persons they thought were posing great threats to the state or the emperor.
3# They assassinated Emperors and auctioned the throne
Contrary to their function of protection, the Praetorians resorted to the killing and dethroning of emperors since the start of the empire.
They were all but susceptible to money and other rewards and for that to achieve; they assassinated various famous emperors like Caligula in 41, Galba in 69, Commodus in 192, Caracalla in 2217, Elagabalus in 222, Balbinus and Pupienus in 238, and Emperor Pertinax in 193 when he tried to impose new disciplinary measures.
When Emperor Pertinax was assassinated, the Praetorians found an opportunity to make fortune by allowing the powerful to bid for the throne and they auctioned emperorship. The two powerful contenders were Didius Julianus and Titus Flavius Sulpicianus, Pertinax’s father-in-law.
Fearing revenge at the hands of Sulpicianus for Pertinax’s murder, they threw their support for Julianus who in turn awarded 25,000 Roman sesterces, a tremendous amount, per guard.
4# They also worked as emergency firefighters
The empire had a terrible history of fire eruptions, and that’s why the empire had a firefighter corps known as “Vigiles” to immediately respond to fire eruptions.
But whenever an accident of fire eruption would occur, the emperor would send the Praetorians to the aid of Vigiles, to quickly control the unruly blazing fires. The aim of sending the Praetorians to the help of people was only to win over the support of the citizens and to convey the message to them the emperor cares about them.
However, historians also blame them for deliberately setting fire to the Temple of Vesta and caused the terrible conflagration that burned much of Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero. Whatever the motives were, but records show that they were often deployed to help distinguish the fire eruptions.
5# Constantine the Great disbanded them in 312
Although Emperor Septimius Severus introduced reforms to the structure of the Praetorian guards by dismissing its members to recruit guards directly from the legions, they were still capable to wield enough power to influence the political arena of the empire.
They didn’t want to give up their sway over the emperorship and the power of kingmaking, so they tried one last time to proclaim the infamous Maxentius as the emperor of the Western empire in 306. The decision initiated a chain of civil wars that also forced the Eastern Emperor, Constantine I, to enter the war against Maxentius and his Praetorians supporters.
The two sides met at the Battle of Milvian Bridge along the Tiber River ad fought a fierce battle. However, the army of Constantine killed Maxentius and soundly defeated the Praetorian guards.
The results of the war and treachery of the Praetorians convinced Constantine that the unit must be disbanded to end the civil war and protect the Roman emperors. Thus, he oversaw the demolition of Castra Praetoria, the barracks of the Praetorians, and its members were sent to the outskirts of the empire. For good measure, Constantine moved the imperial capitol to Byzantium (Constantinople) in modern Turkey far from Rome and the Castra Praetoria.
The dismantling of the Praetorians ushered a new era in the Roman Empire, and peace prevailed for much of the time.
