noun
definition
A member of a special bodyguard force used by Roman emperors. The symbol of the Praetorian Guard was the scorpion.
noun
definition
A praetor
definition
A venal mercenary
Examples of praetorians in a Sentence
It was said that the terms of resignation had actually been agreed upon with Primus, one of Vespasian's chief supporters, but the praetorians refused to allow him to carry out the agreement, and forced him to return to the palace, when he was on his way to deposit the insignia of empire in the temple of Concord.
In his dealings with the mutinous praetorians the strength of the new emperor's hand was shown at once.
The attempt also of the daring highwayman Maternus to seize the empire was betrayed; but at last Eclectus the emperor's chamberlain, Laetus the praefect of the praetorians, and his mistress Marcia, finding their names on the list of those doomed to death, united to destroy him.
Under the empire the praetorians or imperial guards were commanded by one, two, or even three praefects (praefecti praetorio), who were chosen by the emperor from among the knights and held office at his pleasure.
The cohort on duty at the Palatine, which had accompanied the emperor, instantly deserted him; Galba, Piso and others were brutally murdered by the praetorians.
Another attempt in 222 produced a mutiny among the praetorians, in which Heliogabalus and his mother Soemias (Soaemias) were slain (probably in the first half of March).
He was the son of Seius Strabo, prefect of the praetorians, and was adopted into the Aelian gens.
He gained the confidence of Tiberius, and, supported by the praetorians, whom he concentrated in a camp on the Viminal Hill, became virtually ruler of Rome.
When the emperor's downfall appeared imminent, Tigellinus deserted him, and with Nymphidius Sabinus brought about the defection of the praetorians.
This resolution of Motasim was destined to prove fatal to his dynasty; for it placed the caliphs at the mercy of their praetorians.
That the predominance of the praetorians was already established is clear from the fact that Wathiq gave to two Turkish generals, Ashnas and Itakh respectively, the titular but lucrative supreme government of all the western and all the eastern provinces.
In the next year, on the I I th of March, Heliogabalus was murdered, and Alexander was proclaimed emperor by the Praetorians and accepted by the senate.
The enthusiasm with which he was welcomed, not only by the populace, but by the emperor's own praetorians, was so great that the earliest pretext was seized to remove him from the capital.
After the death of Numerianus he was chosen emperor by the troops at Chalcedon, on the 17th of September 28 4, and slew with his own hands Arrius Aper, the praefect of the praetorians.
Maximinus, who was in Pannonia at the time, marched against Rome, and passing over the Julian Alps descended on Aquileia; while detained before that city he and his son were murdered in their tent by a body of praetorians.
Though not a military officer, the praefect commanded the city cohorts (cohortes urbanae), which formed part of the garrison of Rome and ranked above the line regiments, though below the guards (see Praetorians).