Quote:Praetorians were first and foremost the bodyguards of the Emperor, and secondarily groups of soldiers sent for special missions or to escort special people to a distant location, or for whatever the Emperor sent them to do.
This is certainly my opinion, too. It's not the task of a bodyguard to stand in the battleline.
Quote:[color=#0000bb]If the Emperor was threatened, they gave pretty good account for themselves on the battlefield, whenever necessary.
I wonder what evidence Evans cites for this? Perhaps Severan and later?
Quote:Praetorians were first and foremost the bodyguards of the Emperor,
Was this not the job of the Equites Singulares Augusti?
I agree, that their primary role was not that of a central field-army; at least not until Severus. But to reduce them to bodyguards, doesn't match either.
@Duncan
The attached is the text from Evans' book, facing page is the Milvian Bridge battle map previously shown. The footnote 12 refers to Gibbons' Decline and Fall, page 365. He doesn't list any other sources, so I can't really give you a plain answer. Sorry, sir.
@Frank
I think "reduced to bodyguards" oversimplifies things. That was a PROmotion, not a DEmotion, even if we just base the position on pay alone.
Quote:@Frank
I think "reduced to bodyguards" oversimplifies things. That was a PROmotion, not a DEmotion, even if we just base the position on pay alone.
Of course it was a promotion. I meant a reduction of their far more complex role to a single function by your statement. And as already mentioned, the bodyguards in the narrow sense of the word, were the Singulares Augusti.
Quote:I meant a reduction of their far more complex role to a single function by your statement. And as already mentioned, the bodyguards in the narrow sense of the word, were the Singulares Augusti.
I'm afraid I don't see their role as being complex at all. The ESA didn't exist until the reign of Trajan (though Speidel has flirted with a Domitianic origin in the past).
Quote:I'm afraid I don't see their role as being complex at all. The ESA didn't exist until the reign of Trajan (though Speidel has flirted with a Domitianic origin in the past).
Before Trajans Equites Singulares the bodyguards were just named differently, starting with Augustus german bodyguards, which were fired 9 AD but re-established soon.
Quote:Before Trajans Equites Singulares the bodyguards were just named differently, starting with Augustus german bodyguards, which were fired 9 AD but re-established soon.
I'm not following your logic. :unsure: What do you think the Praetorian Guard were?
Quote:I meant a reduction of their far more complex role to a single function by your statement.
I didn't say it was a "single function". The rest of that sentence and the rest of the post made that clear, I thought. But what is their name?
Praetorian--having to do with the Praetorium, or the high-hat headquarters.
Guard--well, that's obvious.
Their primary function was to act as the Emperor's secret police, body guard, troops for whatever special function the Emperor decided. Praetorian guard cohorts were sent to help man the defenses in places as far away as Germania, Africa, or other places where they were ordered to go. They were not JUST bodyguards, and I apologize if I made you think that's what I meant.
Quote:What do you think the Praetorian Guard were?
Are they actually referred to as a 'guard' anywhere? What would the latin term be? Or are they just called 'praetoriani' or milites' or whatever? Just curious.
Not saying they weren't a bodyguard, of course - but they had other functions too. Ten thousand men is rather excessive just to guard a single man, after all... even if, as Tacitus implies, only one cohort at a time was on duty at the palace.
Maybe we should think of the praetorians more like internal security troops - somebody, I think, compared them to the KGB divisions of the old USSR. Their practical use seems to have varied depending on the emperor: Nero kept them in Rome to intimidate the senate, when he wasn't sending them off to Africa to find the source of the Nile...
I tend to think, even considering Duncan's caveats, that Trajan used them as field troops during his campaigns, at least in Dacia. Aurelian appears to have done the same. The more bellicose the emperor, the closer his praetorians would be the seat of war and the more likely they would become involved. Unless we have some evidence to suggest that praetorians on campaign were deliberately excluded from combat situations?
Perhaps it helps, to clarify the bodyguard-part of their duties, if we think in modern security zones. The inner security zone 1 was the job of the Singulares or their predecessors. Security zone 2 was the job of the praetorians. So the person of the emperor himself was usually guarded by the Singulares, while everything around was the job of the praetorians.
Quote:Not saying they weren't a bodyguard, of course - but they had other functions too. Ten thousand men is rather excessive just to guard a single man, after all... even if, as Tacitus implies, only one cohort at a time was on duty at the palace.
Thats what I thought, too. The initial intention of Augustus was most propably to supress even the idea of a civil revolt by the aristocrats or the plebs urbana. But just to be present becomes a boring job pretty soon. Bored praetorians are a waste of manpower and a risk, too. So I am convinced that their daily tasks were more than just guarding a few public buildings and the periphery of the emperor. Unfortunately there are not that many hints about their additional daily tasks in ancient sources.
Sandra Bingham (Bingham, S.J., 1997. The Praetorian Guard in the Political and Social Life of Julio-Claudian Rome (PhD thesis), Ottawa.) has dealt quite extensively with the duties of Praetorian Guard (in the Julio-Claudian period). Their main role, of course, was guarding the emperor and his family. One cohort was always guarding the imperial palace and there are a few cases we know, where the Praetorians acted in the emperor's defence (Tac. Ann. I. 7, II. 34, IV. 67; Cass. Dio LX. 16. 7, LVII. 2. 2; LXVIII. 7. 3, LXXI. 34; Suet. Caligula 19, Nero 9, 19; Herodian. II. 1, V. 6. 8; HA Ant. Pius 12. 6, Pert. 5. 7 - acting in emperor's defence: Tac. Ann. I. 13, Suet. Nero 21; Herodian. I. 8. 6 etc.). With regard to the imperial family, we have seen that two Praetorian cohorts were with Germanicus in Germania, but there are other examples in our sources (Tac. Ann. I. 24, II. 16, XIII. 18; Cass. Dio LXXIX. 23. 2). The Praetorian Guard was also used as a reserve for suppressing civil unrest and uprisings in Rome and her vicinity (Suet. Tiberius 37; Tac. Ann. IV. 27, 48; Cass. Dio LXXIII. 13. 4; HA Did. Iul. 4. 6; Herodian. IV. 6. 4). They were also used for carrying emperors letters and accompanied espionage duties. This role was mostly performed by the Speculatore but later it passed on to the Frumentarii (not part of the Guard). The Guard was also used for arresting, guarding, interrogating, torturing and executing of suspects and criminal - here probably only in sensitive political cases or where the Roman nobility and imperial family was involved (for example the case of Messalina and Silius - Tac. Ann. XI. 32, 35-38 - or the case of Agrippa Postumus - Tac. Ann. I. 6; Suet. Tib. 22 - or for example the Pisonian conspiracy - Tac. Ann. XV. 48-72; Cass. Dio LXII. 24-27). Common criminals were dealt with by the Urban cohorts.
But the Praetorian Guard had also some civil duties. It seems probable, that the Praetorians assisted the Vigiles in fire fighting (at least sometimes in case of larger fires - Cass. Dio LVII. 4. 10; CIL XIV, 4494). May be the Praetorians also partially helped with maintaining security during games and in theaters, when the emperor was present (but the evidence cited by Bingham isn't very persuasive in this case).
Sometimes some emperors used the Praetorians for other tasks. Caligula used them for collecting taxes (Suet. Cal. 40; Joseph. AJ XIX. 24-26). Caligula also made the Praetorians to build stables for the green faction from the circus (Joseph. AJ XIX. 257). But these were rather exceptional tasks, not regular duties.
As we have already seen, the Praetorians could have been used as a real fighting unit on battlefields when necessary.
So, the duties of the Praetorian Guard may have been quite complex. Also with the ever increasing power of Praetorian Prefects in civil administration the Guard certainly played a role.
Quote:So, the duties of the Praetorian Guard may have been quite complex. Also with the ever increasing power of Praetorian Prefects in civil administration the Guard certainly played a role.
Thats another good point. In late empire the praetorian prefects became even a pure civil function. Latest in 2nd century it becomes usual, that one prefect was a military expert, while the other an expert in civil administration and jurisdication. So I expect a much higher percentage of librarii, exacti, exceptores and such in a praetorian cohort, than in a legionary cohort. These librarii were soldiers, no doubt, but their daily tasks were administrative. Propbably a lot of praetorians of all ranks were working for the equestrians in the central administration of the emperor. Latest after the use of slaves of the domus caesari started to decrease. In the offices of procuratores in the provinces we see a similar situation: a mix of slaves, fredmen and soldiers, lent form the local governor, working as lower and midrank clerks.
