Statores Augusti: Praetorians or Not?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52575/2687-0967-2026-53-3-526-534Keywords:
Ancient Rome, Statores Augusti, Praetorian Guard, Roman ArmyAbstract
The Praetorian Guard represent structurally highly complex units of the Roman army that evolved over several centuries. Within the guard, the so-called “special units” carried out those tasks of the imperial administration that fell outside the standard range of Praetorian’s duties. One such unit was the Statores Augusti, and scholarly literature has yet to adequately address the study of their organizational structure. During the Roman Republic, the Statores formed a kind of «staff» serving a governor or military commander and handled the delivery of messages. In the Imperial period, the Statores Augusti gradually integrated into the Praetorian Guard. By the 3d century AD, the statores Augusti began to form a distinct numerus. The command structure of this unit also underwent changes. Commanders of the Statores typically received further promotions within the Rome garrison. Determining the precise functions of the Statores in the Imperial period proves difficult, so we may assume that they performed the duties of “military police”.
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Haensch R. 2007. «Dans tout le prétoire...» Le personnel du préfet d’Égypte sous le Haut-Empire. Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz. 18: 93–100.
Historia Augusta. 1913. Volume I: Hadrian. Aelius. Antoninus Pius. Marcus Aurelius. L. Verus. Avidius Cassius. Commodus. Pertinax. Didius Julianus. Septimius Severus. Pescennius Niger. Clodius Albinus. Edited and translated by D. Magie. Loeb Classical Library 139. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 505 p.
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Kübler B. 1929. Statores. Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. LII: 2228–2229.
Maxeld V.A. 1972. The Dona Militaria of the Roman Army. I, 220. URL: https://etheses.durham.ac.uk/id/eprint/10339/ (дата обращения: 9 мая 2026)
Paribeni R. 1901. Gli statores Augusti. Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma. 29: 287–299.
Petronius, Seneca. 1913. Satyricon. Apocolocyntosis. Edited and Translated by M. Heseltine, W. H. D. Rouse. Loeb Classical Library 15. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 499 p.
Pflaum. H.-G. 1959. Lucien de Samosate, «archistator praefecti Ægypti», d'après une inscription de Césarée de Maurétanie. Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire. 71: 281–286.
Ricci C. 2006. Una dedica militare del 168 d.C e gli statores. Epigrafia 2006. Atti della XIVe Rencontre sur l'Epigraphie in onore di Silvio Panciera con altri contributi di colleghi, allievi e collaborator. Roma: Quasar: 1227–1240.
Ricci C. 2018. Security in Roman Times. Rome, Italy and the Emperors. London, New York: Routledge, 300.
Southern P. 1989. The Numeri of the Roman Imperial Army. Britannia. 20: 81–140.
Speidel M.P. 1974. Stablesiani. The Raising of New Cavalry Units during the Crisis of the Roman Empire. Chiron. 4: 541–546.
Suetonius. 1914. Lives of the Caesars. Volume II: Claudius. Nero. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. Vespasian. Titus, Domitian. Lives of Illustrious Men: Grammarians and Rhetoricians. Poets (Terence. Virgil. Horace. Tibullus. Persius. Lucan). Lives of Pliny the Elder and Passienus Crispus. Edited and Translated by J.C. Rolfe. Loeb Classical Library 38. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 567 p.
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Trevisiol A. 1999. Fonti letterarie ed epigrafiche per la storia romana della provincial di Pesaro e Urbino. Roma: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 246.
Weiss B. 1929. Statio. Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaft. LII: 2210–2213.
Zehnacker H. 1960. Les «A commentariis praefectorum praetorio»: origine et évolution d'une fonction de l'administration impériale. Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire. 72: 221–236.
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