Soldiers of Rome: Praetorians and Legionnaires

The army that protected and expanded the Roman empire during the first three centuries A. D. had three components: (1) the legions with about 150,000 men, initially all Roman citizens; (2) the praetorian guard, likewise made up of Roman citizens, which at its peak numbered about 10,000; and (3) an auxiliary of 150,000 non-citizens. Soldiers of Rome, focusing almost exclusively on the praetorians and legionnaires, qualifies as the most accessible reference in print not only to the field campaigns during this period but t the military's role in the plots and counterplots that simmered and boiled around the imperial palace. Colonel Evan's narrative is in two parts. Part One is a conscientious attempt to set the record straight on the praetorian guard, an elitist group whose primary mission was to protect the emperor and which, in the author's opinion, was given a bad press by the classical historians. Part Two was first published in 1980 as Legions of Imperial Rome. Revised for this volume, it is an order-of-battle study of the legions, told with enough selective detail to confirm their reputation as one of the most formidable fighting forces the world has ever seen.