How many were in the praetorian guard

His power rivaled the emperor himself, and only a falling out between he and Tiberius ended his reign of terror. It was during this period that the Castra Praetoria was built, and the Praetorians were moved into Rome in force. Tiberius' heir Gaius Caligula was murdered by the Praetorians in 41 AD because of his instability and perceived mockery of the military and Roman institutions as a whole.

Claudius, his uncle was the first emperor to essentially be forced into power through the political machinations of the Praetorians. Though opposed by the Senate , the Praetorians threatened mayhem, and the Senate was forced to concede to Claudius as Caligula's heir.

Claudius, however, despite early opposition would eventually be remembered by history as one of the most effective Emperors. By 69 AD, the death of Nero began a civil war which eventually became known as the year of the 4 emperors.

The Guard willingly altered loyalty between whichever man took power. One of these men, Vitellius, increased the Guard to 16 cohorts, totaling 16, personal men. Shortly thereafter, however, when Vespasian emerged as the eventual victor, the Praetorians were reduced back to a more manageable nine cohorts. His son Domitian increased the number of cohorts to 10 and this seems to have stayed in place for the bulk of the guard's remaining existence.

In AD, after the murder of Commodus, the guard went beyond the traditional donativum and actually auctioned off the throne. Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, bought the imperial office, but reigned only 66 days until he was murdered by the very men that put him there.

Taking his place, Septimius Severus reformed the guard, essentially disbanding it for disloyalty. Unable to maintain the throne without a personal guard, however, he reformed it, but opened recruitment to all over the empire. Master Qui-Gon , more to say, have you? It is requested that this article, or a section of this article, be expanded. See the request on the listing or on this article's talk page. Once the improvements have been completed, you may remove this notice and the page's listing.

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. This article or section is in need of referencing per Wookieepedia's sourcing guidelines. This article needs appropriate citations. Help us improve this article by referencing valid resource material. Remove this notice when finished. The Elite Praetorian Guard were eight highly trained human warriors that served as elite personal bodyguards of Supreme Leader Snoke —ruler of the military junta and hermetic state known as the First Order , like the Imperial Royal Guards who protected Emperor Palpatine during the reign of the Galactic Empire.

As such, they were trained to protect the Supreme Leader by meeting any threat with a ferocious response. Clad in red armor and robes , the Praetorian Guard's appearance deliberately echoed that of the Emperor's royal guardsmen.

The Praetorian Guard was stationed aboard the Supreme Leader's flagship , the Supremacy , during the conflict between the First Order and the Resistance. It was in Snoke's throne room where the guards witnessed their master's death at the hand of his apprentice, the First Order warlord Kylo Ren. In response, the Praetorians attacked Ren in an attempt to avenge the fallen Supreme Leader. By dispatching his personal guard to assist in disaster relief, the emperor could show the citizenry that he was concerned for their welfare.

The Praetorian Guard often handled crowd control at the Roman games, but they occasionally stepped into the arena and played an active role in the bloodshed. The spectacle saw as many as 19, men and some boats clash in a mock naval engagement on the Fucine Lake. Most of the participants were prisoners and slaves, and the Praetorians, armed with catapults and ballistae, surrounded the battle on rafts to add to the mayhem and prevent any of the condemned from escaping. The Praetorians were known to engage in espionage, intimidation, arrests and killings to protect the interests of the Roman emperor.

Speculatores and other members of the Praetorians would disguise themselves as ordinary citizens at gladiator contests, theatrical performances and protests to monitor and arrest anyone who criticized the emperor. They also kept tabs on suspected enemies of the state, and in some cases they even secretly executed those judged to be an imminent threat to the emperor or his policies.

The unit was a major player in the webs of deceit that characterized imperial Rome, and they were willing to slaughter and install new emperors when tempted by promises of money or power. In doing so, Severus unwittingly sowed the seeds of another regime change. Maximinus ruled until AD when his own Praetorians killed him. When Commodus was murdered in AD , the guard took exception to his disciplinarian successor, Pertinax. So they killed him.

He failed to pay up so he had to go too. In AD , when Septimius Severus cashiered the guard, outraged at their auctioning off of the empire, he ordered the Praetorians to stand in their parade ground. In AD a prophecy circulated that the Praetorian prefect Macrinus was destined to become emperor. Macrinus was the first Praetorian prefect to rule, fulfilling the prophecy he feared so much. He lasted 14 months, before being killed by soldiers. Executed by the Senate, his body was abused by the mob for three days and his three children killed.

Notoriously his daughter, a virgin, was raped by an official first so that she could be legally killed. His wife, Apicata, committed suicide. Being a promiscuous homosexual and fanatical follower of the Heliogabalus sun god cult, Emperor Elagabalus, great-nephew of Septimius Severus, did not sell himself well either to the Romans or the Praetorians when he arrived in Rome in AD Appointing an ex-dancer called Comazon to be Praetorian prefect made things worse.

No wonder the Praetorians preferred his staid cousin Severus Alexander whom Elagabalus tried to kill. But the death of Marcus Aurelius in AD marked a turning point. The accession of his weak-minded son Commodus created a power vacuum into which the Praetorians themselves were sucked.

More interested in prostitutes, parties and performing in the arena , Commodus was easily persuaded to leave affairs of state to his opportunistic and self-serving Praetorian prefects. The soldiers themselves degenerated into louche layabouts, unrecognisable as a meaningful military force.

The fallout from Praetorian ambitions, soldiers and prefects alike, scattered across the third century like a hailstorm.

Emperors rose and fell like ninepins, some of them murderously ambitious Praetorian prefects who seized power but were later killed by their own men. In the end the guard backed the wrong man and was permanently disbanded in by Constantine, determined to destroy one of the major causes of the chronic instability of the era.

Menacing, mercurial and mercenary, the Praetorians were only kept under control by emperors who had enough personal prestige to command their loyalty. So the guard serves as a warning to any leader today whose power is sought, won and sustained through force, however skilfully cloaked in the paraphernalia of legitimacy and popular consent.