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Early barracks such as those of the Roman Praetorian Guard were built to maintain elite forces. There are a number of remains of Roman army barracks in frontier forts such as Vercovicium and Vindolanda. From these and from contemporary Roman sources we can see that the basics of life in a military camp have remained constant for thousands of years.
In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum [1] (pl.: castra) was a military-related term.In Latin usage, the singular form castrum meant 'fort', while the plural form castra meant 'camp'. [2]
The barracks was built between 20 and 23 AD by Tiberius on the advice of the powerful commander (Praefectus Praetorio, literally "Prefect to the Praetorium", given that the Latin verb praeficio takes the dative case) Sejanus, to house in it the nine existing cohorts.
Then in 238 AD, the barracks were attacked by the citizens of Rome who were in revolt against the emperor Maximinus Thrax. The Castra Praetoria was destroyed by Constantine I, who also disbanded the Praetorian Guard upon his conquest of Italy while Maxentius ruled as the Western Roman Emperor in Italy. [3]
A barracks emperor (also called a "soldier emperor") was a Roman emperor who seized power by virtue of his command of the army. Barracks emperors were especially common from 235 to 284 AD, during the Crisis of the Third Century , which began with the assassination of Severus Alexander .
It has been claimed by some authors, as the name suggests, that the barracks housed a garrison of peregrini, non-citizens and free subjects of the empire. [5] Others, however, dispute this claim and have proposed that the barracks housed Roman citizens; if so, the name would not imply the lack of citizenship but rather refer to the fact that they were detached away from the legions for special ...
The Western Barracks buildings had been exposed and showed that the original timber barracks were replaced by stone, around 115 AD. [7] In 1930 the Caerleon Antiquarian Association agreed to lend, and subsequently hand over, their museum to the National Museum of Wales, having devoted 80 years to keeping the troublesome roof repaired. [7]
During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guards were escorts for high-ranking political officials (senators and procurators) and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus , designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort.