The Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard developed in infamous reputation through massacres and bloody power struggles in ancient Rome. This Osprey book is a concise work detailing the elite formation's history, dress, and equipment. Events are covered from the Guard's formation to Nero's Germaic bodyguards to the final battle against Constantine at the Milvian Bridge. The colored illustrations are well done and nicely complement the text. Overall, a useful book for anyone wanting a general view of the Praetorian Guard or just interested in Roman Military history.

This Osprey elite title examines the infamous 10000-man bodyguard of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Century Roman emperors-the Praetorian Guard, best known to most modern Americans as Commodus' ruthless henchmen in 'Gladiator'. Until Septimius Severus based his Second Parthica Legion at Albanum c. AD 198, the Praetorian Guard had the honor of being the only regular military force stationed in Imperial Italia. It was largely composed of hardened Germanic and Gaulish frontier veterans who had already hacked and slashed their way through a decade or so of military experience. This book is most thorough where it examines the guard between Claudius and Trajan, though it looks at their entire history from Tiberius (who seems to have first organized them) to Maxentius, the early 4th Century usurper and the last commander the Praetorians ever had. Like most Osprey books, this is primarily a visual guide; it gives some good basic information on the history and organization of the Guard, but typical for Roman military history books virtually ignores the vital (albeit not very honorable) role they played in the incessant civil wars of the 3rd Century. Overall, the Praetorians greatly resembled the other legions in appearance and armament, so the color plates of this book are a good source on the appearance of Imperial troops in general, not just the Guard. In summary, this is a great visual guide to the Praetorian Guard, particularly of the 1st and 2nd Centuries, and provides a good solid foundation in the study of this illustrious-if not infamous-unit of the Roman Army.

Mr Rankov's book earns 5 stars because it remains the single book written about the Roman Praetorian Guard. It contains much information based on good and extensive bibliography and will surely satisfy the enthusiasts of this ancient period with the numerous b/w photographs and the color drawings which are explained in exhaustively detailed captions. A nice first try on the subject.

This is a rather good book, a typical Osprey Publishing production. The topic is the Praetorian Guard, the bodyguard of the Roman emperors from Augustus until their disbanding in the early 4th Century AD by Constantine. This is a very good introduction to this elite military unit and is one of the few English sources on the topic...the majority are either in French or Italian and a few others are merely secondary sources that mention the Guard only in passing. The color plates are also excellent works as usual, some are of course conjectural as most of the sculptures and artwork of the Romans have been damaged or lost their own paint over the years. The authors make no pretension as to the accuracy of the color of the Roman shields but the shield designs are pretty accurately described and drawn. Other than that it's a rather good book with a good amount of very useful information for the beginning person interested in Rome or maybe even the experienced historian interested in Rome.