Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of ancient warfare answers with me, Murray,

your weekly 10-minute fix of ancient warfare related stuff and where I attempt to answer a question

from one of our readers, listeners, viewers.

I think readers, listeners, viewers, yes.

Now, of course, you can ask us a question.

You can send us an email.

You can sit us a postcard.

The address is P-O-Box-2-2-2-B-E-L-F-I-E-L-D.

NSW-1-1-O-N-N219-1, Australia, that will get to me.

Now, of course, you can also back us on Patreon, and many of our questions come from patrons.

You can back us at one of three different levels at Legionary Optio and Centurion

and even get a copy of the magazine.

So all you have to do is go to Patreon forward slash ancient warfare podcast and there we are.

Now, today's question is from Nathan and it's about the Pretorian Guard.

How was the Pretorian Guard structured and was it used in traditional combat or taken on campaigns?

And while not directly related to ancient warfare, why was the Pretorian Guard

continually used by emperors despite their history of treachery, intrigue and assassination?

Fabulous stuff. Ten minutes. Well, let's see how we go. So the Pretorian Guard is one of those units

in the ancient Roman army that gets a lot of attention, they are either pampered or elite.

They're also a pampered elite.

You know, their pay rises to triple what a normal legionary gets and they serve for less years.

So in many ways you really wanted to be in the Praetorian Guard. Now, interestingly, the origins of the Praetorian Guard go back before the Roman Empire.

...