Praetorian Guard

Praetorian Guard, bodyguard of the ancient Roman emperors. By the 2nd century bc the bodyguard of a Roman general was known as the praetorian cohort, but Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 bc instituted the Praetorian Guard as a separate force by organizing 9 cohorts, each consisting of 500 men, under the command of a prefect, who was called the praetorian prefect. The Praetorian Guard, being the only large permanent body of troops allowed in Rome itself, or near the city, soon acquired great political power. Members served 16 years, receiving special privileges and pay. They gradually began to exercise their political power in an unscrupulous manner, deposing and elevating emperors at their pleasure. In ad 193, after the assassination of Emperor Publius Helvius Pertinax, they sold the throne to Didius Severus Julianus. In the same year the Guard was reorganized by his successor, Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus. It was abolished by Emperor Constantine the Great in 312.