Following a dizzying chain of civil wars and rival claims to the throne, Maxentius and his Praetorians were confronted by the Emperor Constantine at 312’s Battle of Milvian Bridge. In 306, the Praetorians tried to play the role of kingmaker one last time when they installed the usurper Maxentius as the western emperor in Rome.
Still, their run as the guardians of the Roman throne didn’t officially end until the fourth century. The structure of the Praetorian Guard was permanently altered in the late-second century, when the Emperor Septimius Severus dismissed its members and began recruiting bodyguards directly from the legions. Likewise, Emperor Pertinax was confirmed by the Praetorians in 193 and then slain just three months later when he tried to force them to accept new disciplinary measures. 68 after winning the support of the Guard, only to be killed at their hands the following year after he neglected to properly reward them. In some cases, the Praetorians were partially responsible for both installing andmurdering a would-be emperor. Among others, the Guard or their prefect also played a part in the murder of Commodus in 192, Caracalla in 217, Elagabalus in 222 and Pupienus and Balbinus in 238.
Disgruntled Praetorians famously engineered the assassination of Caligula and the selection of Claudius as his successor in A.D.
The unit was a major player in the webs of deceit that characterized imperial Rome, and they were willing to slaughter and install new emperors when tempted by promises of money or power. The Praetorians’ may have been tasked with protecting the Roman Emperor, but they were also the single greatest threat to his life. Praetorian Guard proclaiming Claudius emperor
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