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Guest Legio I Adiutrix

arcani were a group of assasians who killed off many enemy leaders (like the cia and navy seals lol) but the true special forces of rome were its sarmatian mercenaries used in dacia and in the tracian peasent revolts (not like king arthur at all) and the praetorian gaurd who i agree were in many cases thugs but were also the best fighters in the roman military.

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Yet the praetorian guard were more of a hazard than a help to the empire, yet when their succesors, the Scholae units or their full name Schola Protectores Domestici, the "Protective Association of the Royal Escort" were instituted by Consantine the Great they were created purely to protect the emperor and were totally loyal and they were used in both the east and west yet they were eventually phased out in the west while in the east they remained the imperial guard. The eastern empires elite battlefield units were their cavalry, specifically the cavalry based on the eastern warriors. the western empire elites were the Imperial German Bodyguard and the Auxulia Palatina, while their spy's were the Praeventores which were in effect the succesors of the Arcani.

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Don't forget the Batavian Cohorts who were excellent swimmers, and were crucial to the initial stages of the British Invasion when crossing the Tamesis. Thoroughly ruthless too.

 

Almost like Navy SEALs :)

 

Cheers,

Jim.

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Does the term "praeventore" or "supraventore" have relevance in this thread? And I apologise if the spelling is wrong.

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does this mean spec-ops in Roman terms? SAS or SBS style? excuse my Brittannic terminology

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It would probably be hard to mention them all right here, but it should not be forgotten that the Romans worked extensively through other peoples and nations. A special troop of some other people might actually be used by Rome herself. After all if someone else does it better, might as well just pay them to do it than get involved yourself.

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and that "working through others" is the very thing that put the word "byzantine" into the english language as a term for subterfuge and cunning -after the works of the Eastern Empire in later times

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off topic, alexander would have made short work of the romans, even if againsts gaius julius cease, who lost a few battles and whos greatist battle was against verson getorax. aka simpleton barbarian.

 

i felt i had to add that in there.

 

Welcome to the forum Dream... just to let you know... we've pretty much had our fill of the Alexander vs. Caesar thing around here. Such conversations have their purpose and can be entertaining, but eventually they end up in an eternal circular pattern that can't find a conclusion.

 

 

 

hi primus thanks for the welcome, and the info - this was one of the first topics i added to, and i did say it was off topic, but of course.. ill keep my ideas and comments that are significantly offtopic to my self, im just a big alex fan [edited by mod as inappropriate--PP]

 

i thought youd all want to know.. on the BBC on wenday there is a show called 'rome' guess what its about, obv it hasnt started yet but i wanted to let you all know so you can either set your vicers or order the channel(giggles) or perhaps even just set your pc to watch it online...

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Ave !!

What about the eqvites singulares, they were handpicked men who acted as guard for the governor.

 

vale

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One example of special forces in Rome would be the Lictor.

The lictor was a member of a special class of Roman civil servant, with special tasks of attending magistrates of the Roman Republic and Empire who held imperium.

The lictor's main task was to attend as bodyguards to magistrates who held imperium: consuls, praetors, dictators and curule aediles; the dictator's deputy, the magister equitum ("Master of the Horse") was also escorted by six lictors. Men with proconsular or prepraetorian imperium were also entitled to lictors. They carried rods decorated with fasces and, outside the pomerium, with axes that symbolized the power to execute. They followed the magistrate wherever he went, including the Forum, his house, temples and the baths. If there was a crowd, the lictors opened the way and kept their master safe. They also had to stand beside the magistrate whenever he addressed the crowd. Magistrates could only dispense their lictors if they were visiting a free city or addressing a higher status magistrate. Lictors also had legal and penal duties: they could at their master's command arrest Roman citizens and punish them.

Although they were not special forces in essence of elite soldiers, there were certainly a special class of citizen.

As well, this may be a little past the time you're looking for, but in the time of the Later Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the Varangian Guard were elite Russian Forces employed to protect the Emperor.

 

Dont forget the urban cohort or the first legionary cohort to created to protect the roman symbol of might, the eagle.

Edited by mquish

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In small numbers and on rare occaisions, troops of gladiators were used as special forces. There wasn't much call for that sort of thing back then. A suprise attack by regular soldiers was just as damaging as a visit by a few hand-picked specialists. Without modern communications to warn your opponent, you simply had to keep quiet and arrive.

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Yet the praetorian guard were more of a hazard than a help to the empire

Not initially. The Guard was fully loyal to their creator, Augustus, after all. And they did help getting rid of some bad emperors. Still, they obviously ended up being something quite different from what Augustus intended them to be.

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Dont forget the urban cohort or the first legionary cohort to created to protect the roman symbol of might, the eagle.

 

The Urban Cohorts were the of a police force in the major cities... they did not have anything to do with protecting the eagles, that was the sole job of each individual legion and it's standards...

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The Urban Cohorts ... they did not have anything to do with protecting the eagles

The way I figured he didn't mean that either, just a bit unclear with his sentence structure.

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