From Gladiator to Rome Total War to I, Claudius, today the Cohortēs praetōriae are one of the most distinctive military units of Imperial Rome. It was their job to protect the Roman Emperor and his household, a task for which they hold a somewhat ‘chequered’ record (especially when we focus in on the Praetorian Prefects). But what do we know about this unit’s origins? How did this powerful force become protectors of the Emperor and his household? What other functions did they serve? And how did they differ from the standard Roman legions in their structure?To talk through the rise of the Praetorian Guard, with a specific focus on the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, Tristan caught up with historian Lindsay Powell at Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex. Lindsay is the author of several books about the Early Roman Imperial Period. His latest book, Bar Kokhba: The Jew Who Defied Hadrian and Challenged the Might of Rome, is out now.Presented by Tristan Hughes. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.All music from Epidemic SoundsSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here.This episode first aired in October 2021.
Chapter 1: What is the Praetorian Guard?
They're one of the most recognisable military units of ancient history. The infamous bodyguards of Roman emperors, famous from epic movies such as Gladiator. The Praetorian Guard. But these Praetorians were much more than just imperial bodyguards. Their duties stretched from policing to fighting on the battlefield. And it's the story of their rise that we're going to explore today.
It's The Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
Our guest is Lindsay Powell, an author of many books on ancient Rome and an expert on this transition period from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, a period that features larger-than-life figures like Julius Caesar, Augustus, Cleopatra, Tiberius, Mark Antony, but also the rise of the Praetorian Guard and how it came to be the unit associated with emperors.
We're going to explore the Guard's origins, its structure, duties and key figures that rose to prominence within this unit, including the fascinating yet horrifying figure of Sejanus or Sayanus. That and much more is all to come.
Now, this episode was very special because we recorded it in person a couple of years ago at Fishbourne Roman Palace, this strikingly large Roman villa that was built on England's south coast, not far away from what is today Chichester, the place that I was born. It was the perfect location to talk all things The Rise of the Praetorian Guard.
Lindsay, the Praetorian Guard, it must be one of the most iconic aspects of the Roman imperial period.
I think you're right. There are certain things that stand out because they, in a sense, typify or embody some of our stereotypes, what we think we know about ancient history. And the word itself, Praetorian, somehow hits you in the face as being really powerful and important. And we use the expression Praetorian Guard.
as if it's somehow like, I don't know, dare I say, like the Waffen-SS standing outside the Reichstag or something. But in a sense, that's what the Praetorian Guard, if we use the modern expression, did in ancient Rome. Except, of course, they were called the Cohortes Praetoriae, so they were actually cohorts. Praetorian cohorts.
So we, in fact, in our translation, have even changed some of the imaging, if you like. We think of them as being a bit like the horse guards. They just stand there looking pretty. But their function was much broader than that. They weren't just a security detail. They did other things. But you're absolutely right. I think that they're one of the very iconic aspects of Roman history, particularly.
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Chapter 2: What were the origins of the Praetorian Guard?
Well, of course, news comes on about that his grandnephew has been assassinated, and they're faced with, what are we going to do? So you fast forward by about six months, where he has now made the decision to actually go to Italy, against his mother's advice, by the way. And he quickly recognizes that the situation is very delicate. And he's barely 19.
He's 18 at the time this happens and going into his 19th year, which is really remarkable. I mean, you think, what did you do when you were 18? Well, this man was already planning the destiny of the world.
That's what we all think at university, though, right? You know, in our first and second years.
You must have had a different experience than I had. But I think the key thing here is that he understands a couple of things. One, the place is dangerous. That Mark Antony, Marcus Antonius, who seems to think that he's the natural heir of Julius Caesar, and then they discover in the will that actually that isn't the case. In fact, Octavius, his grandnephew, is the one who's designated.
So Marcus Antonius puts everything in the way to stop him claiming his inheritance. And what Octavian does, this young 18 going on 19-year-old, is to go and appeal to Julius Caesar's veterans, a lot of whom were in Capua in the south of Rome. And these veterans rally around him, presumably with a chest of money to sort of entice them to come along. And these are effectively his first praetorians.
We have no idea how they're organized. They might have naturally divided themselves into cohorts. So we know that between then... And 31 BC, which is the Battle of Actium, he had about 10,000 of these. And they seem to be serving something like 16 years, which caused a bit of a problem, partly because you've got people who are effectively retired from service.
And some of those are going to die through campaigns, obviously, but some of them are just going to be too old and they will withdraw from service. So he has to bring more people in. So there's a certain rotation of people in that. So by the time you get to 31, he's still got this body of what he's calling Praetorian Guard.
And at the battle itself, he gives those people to Marcus Agrippa, who is in charge of his fleet, and they are spread across the different vessels. So what you've got is a bodyguard actually in active combat. So go back to the earlier point I made about these not having particular skills. I mean, they are trained soldiers, and that's how they use the Battle of Actium, which, of course, he wins.
So second going into the 3rd of September 31, the world changes. And the next thing that happens is there's a lot of those troops. Of course, they're a great number. I think by then he had half a million troops, all of which have to be paid for. And this is the big problem.
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Chapter 3: How did Augustus transform the Praetorian Guard?
So what you had here was effectively a military unit which is not allowed to wear military uniforms, so they contrive to wear togas. I think they were allowed to wear their military caligae, their boots, and they have to keep their weapons sort of concealed in the toga. But there are assassination attempts against Bino Augustus throughout his reign.
It's quite surprising that a number of them were recorded. And the Praetorians are close, right? So they're available to deal with situations. But the other five or six that remained are actually scattered across Sicily. And what that means is there's two functions. One, he travels quite frequently.
When his two step-sons, Nero Claudius Drusus and Tiberius, are campaigning in the north, he often goes to Aquileia or he goes to Tichinum. And you have to imagine that he's going to have troops there. So my supposition is we know that there was probably a cohort unit based in Aquileia, but there are probably other ones too.
So the second function they can serve is that if there is an insurrection in Italy, he has personal bodyguard that can deal with it. And that hints at the way the Praetorian Guard will be used in future. So I think what that's very interesting is you start to see these peace parts of the Roman army serving different functions and their pay reflects that.
So on the edges, you've got the professional citizen soldiers supplemented by professional non-Romans called the auxiliaries. And then you have the fleets, which are associated with those by and large. And then within Italy, which is supposed to be a non-militarized area. Don't forget, that's what Julius Caesar got into trouble about when he crossed the Rubicon famously with him.
And that causes a civil war. So he was always mindful of the need to actually keep the military units out of sight. But yet people seem to coalesce around the idea it's OK for him to have a bodyguard. And they were always there to help him. And normally what they were doing was guarding his house. All right, so his house on the palatium, hence we get palace. We're here at Fishbourne Roman Palace.
This is the palatium, if you like. Has a central door and it has, I think there's a couple of, I forget, the laurel trees. And there's a couple of the decorations which he's been awarded. But you can imagine there's a contingent of troops probably in the streets as well. And these people over time begin to control who comes in and out of the building.
So now you can see that beyond being a bodyguard, they begin to have this controlling. And I mentioned earlier the salutatio. So he would have had a stream of visitors coming in. There will be people that are friends of the family and obviously have access rights. There will be people who are clients of his. He's the patron.
And effectively, he becomes the patron of the Roman state, if you look at it that way. And there are people who want to appeal to him to push a particular case and have him respond to certain legislation and so forth. And over time, you can see the Praetorian Guard and whoever's in charge of it can have a very powerful role in the day-to-day running of the nation.
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Chapter 4: What role did Sejanus play in the Praetorian Guard's history?
He loses his brother, his young brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, which I think for him is personally devastating. He's confident, if you like. And worse, the lady that he loves, Vipsania Agrippina, who is a daughter of Marcus Agrippa, he's told to divorce her to marry Julia, who is now the widow of Marcus Agrippa. So these seminal events in his early years, I think, really tear him up.
And this life of service, I think what he wants is somebody he can look at and rely on. So all those years later, when Sir Janus betrays him, I mean, this is something that for 17 years he'd relied on. He could go to Capri knowing that there was someone who was going to look after his interests. And some people say, well, why Capri?
Well, the great thing is actually it's an island and you can get messages and ships and all over the empire from there. So it's not such a dumb position, but by opening himself up to the whims of another man, who begins to understand the extent of his own power, it puts him at great risk. So along comes Antonio with this file, and let's say, it must have been devastating.
It's so interesting though when we look at the role of Sejanus in the rise of the Praetorian Guard, in the early history of the Praetorian Guard, it seems like his reforms and in some ways his continuation of the Guard after Augustus and the roles they performed, this interchanging with the likes of the urban cohorts and the vigiles, he does seem like one of the most significant figures
in the creation of the guard that we envisage almost to this day of how it was structured, what it was for, all the way down almost to Septimius Severus.
Who did away with him, pretty much. Yeah, again, I think you've got a guy that is a military man and understands the pragmatics, and it must have struck him as being silly that they have... Nine cohorts, and most of them are spread around Italy. So getting the watchword out right becomes a problem. Keeping control of expenses and so on.
And maybe their use in other cities, because the significant thing is Augustus travels a lot. And I mentioned Nero Claudius Drusus. He was active in Germany, for example. His brother was active in Lyricum. And what Augustus would do, he'd go to Aquileia, which were closer to those places without necessarily leaving Italy, to get war reports. He was actually getting field reports from his stepsons.
And under Tiberius, that stops. He doesn't travel anywhere. That's the great complaint that people level at him. He's decided after 14 to 21, I'm done with Rome. I want to leave. And he leaves this other guy in charge. So you can see there's pragmatics here. These people don't need to be where the emperor's going because the emperor's not there anymore. He's an island.
And then Sionis can look at this again. He can justify this, right? I'm bringing them to one place. You can keep an eye on them. We're putting them all in one place. So if necessary, we can seal the gates even, you know, things like that. Because to get a legion that might have to deal with them is going to take days, right? So you've got to work on the control elements of this.
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