Pretorian Guard
 Pretorian Guard  (Soldier)   | |
|---|---|
 From the video game Ryse: Son of Rome | |
| Intended as bodyguards for the emperor, aware of their power, they later decided to take it for themselves and rule by proxy. |
The Praetorian Guard was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials (senators and procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In the year 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first Emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort.
For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor, and then proclaim his successor as the new Caesar of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the cohortes praetoriae and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria.
Related Quotation
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Rome/Deep state | “Commodus, like a number of other late Roman emperors and like Donald Trump was incompetent and consumed by his own vanity. He commissioned innumerable statues of himself as Hercules and had little interest in governance. He used his position as head of state to make himself the star of his own ongoing public show. He fought, victoriously, as a gladiator in the arena in fixed bouts. Power for Commodus, as it is for Trump, was primarily about catering to his bottomless narcissism, hedonism and lust for wealth. He sold public offices to the ancient equivalents of Betsy DeVos and Steve Mnuchin. He orchestrated a vast kleptocracy.” | Chris Hedges | 2017 |
