Day-to-Day in the Castra Praetoria

[bellatrix]

Greetings. I am researching the Castra Praetoria for a book I'm writing.
So far, I have been unable to find any resources, either electronically or in print, that would provide an in-depth description
of the inside of the Castra Praetoria. What I am looking for is a resource that would describe the day-to-day operations in the
building. It all seems very mysterious. I've checked previous conversation threads on RAT, so if I am missing something, please
let me know. If anyone has a suggestion for a resource on this topic, it would be much appreciated! Have a fine RAT day!

[mcbishop]

Greetings. I am researching the Castra Praetoria for a book I'm writing.
So far, I have been unable to find any resources, either electronically or in print, that would provide an in-depth description
of the inside of the Castra Praetoria. What I am looking for is a resource that would describe the day-to-day operations in the
building. It all seems very mysterious. I've checked previous conversation threads on RAT, so if I am missing something, please
let me know. If anyone has a suggestion for a resource on this topic, it would be much appreciated! Have a fine RAT day!

You need to check the work of Alexandra Busch, who has made a special study of the CP. Jon Coulston has a chapter on the military in Rome in Coulston & Dodge, Ancient Rome: The Archaeology of the Eternal City. However, be prepared for the the fact that much is inadequately published, or dug long ago and forgotten about, and your best bet for the sort of angle you want is going to come from a detailed study of the primary sources, since the CP is a bit-part player in its own right in so many of the tales of Imperial life in the city.

Mike Bishop

[bellatrix]

Thank you! You've given me a great place to start. I will certainly take your suggestions. I'm a little surprised that more researchers haven't taken an interest in the Castra Praetoria or the Praetorian Guard; I thought a lot more would have been recorded in the past about them. It should be fun to find out more.

[Robert]

Certainly given the fact the Pretorian Guard played an important role in the rise and demise of several emperors, that is indeed curious, to say the least. Much looking forward to the result of your studies!

[bellatrix]

Thanks! I plan to post what I find here for the sake of sharing knowledge and also to allow anyone who wants to share their knowledge to do so. I'm really excited about researching this.

[Paul Elliott]

Fiction or non-fiction?

[bellatrix]

Mithras I have learned so much from both fiction and nonfiction books on ancient Rome. My book I am writing is fiction. It's about a Praetorian in the time of Caligula. Proving harder to research than I thought!

I see you are published. Congratulations! Did you encounter any difficulties with research?

[Paul Elliott]

Hi, I'm actually a nonfiction writer as a rule, I did several years of research for a nonfiction book called The Last Legionary, then used a lot of the same research for a novel set in the same period... Killing two birds with one stone as it were.

I've just signed a contract to write two more books on the Roman military, but I tend to do a lot of the research before I submit my proposals, allowing me to write a detailed chapter by chapter breakdown and providing the publisher with chapter 1 up front.

The only guidelines I can give you for fiction really is, find out what is available, then fill in the blanks by looking at typical legionary routine. Fall back to that default. I have a copy of Ospreys Praetorian Guard book I think it has an artists impression of the camp, and it seems well written (though the colour illustrations for the 3rd century look wrong!).

Good luck!

[Alexandr K]

Greetings. I am researching the Castra Praetoria for a book I'm writing.
So far, I have been unable to find any resources, either electronically or in print, that would provide an in-depth description
of the inside of the Castra Praetoria. What I am looking for is a resource that would describe the day-to-day operations in the
building. It all seems very mysterious. I've checked previous conversation threads on RAT, so if I am missing something, please
let me know. If anyone has a suggestion for a resource on this topic, it would be much appreciated! Have a fine RAT day!

The problem is, that as far as I know there are modern Italian military facilities in the area of the former Praetorian camp and it seems that the army is not much inclined to allow archaeologists dig there. I think the interior of the castra praetoria is in fact largely unknown and only very limited excavations have been done so far (but I have not seen the work of Alexandra Busch mentioned by Mike).

You can check the below article for the tracking of the development of Praetorian camp's walls:
Richmond, I.A., 1927. The Relation of the Praetorian Camp to Aurelian’s Wall of Rome. Papers of the British School at Rome, 10, pp.12–22.

Sandra Bingham has a chapter about the Praetorian camp in her PhD thesis, which can be freely downloaded here.

Greetings,
Alexandr