The Praetorian Guard: Rise to Power
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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.
We're definitely going to go into those aspects like these various jobs that they had etc etc as the podcast goes on. One thing actually to start off with when we were chatting about this just before we started recording was when we do look at ancient history and we look at these iconic units like the Praetorians or these aspects of ancient history that sometimes we think we know a lot about actually, when you look closer, when you study on these things, there are so many of those things that we think we know about them, that is actually, there should be a lot of debate around them.
I think you're right. It's important to understand where we get our information from. So a lot of the time, we rely very much on classical sources. And depending on the period you're studying, it might be Appian, for example, talking about the late Roman Republic and into Augustus. Or it might be Tacitus, it might be Cassius Dio, who are writing... quite a lot later than some of the events we're going to be describing. And you have to understand that they're writing, one, they have an agenda. They're telling the stories to convey a particular narrative that they've structured for their book.
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