Need information on Aurelian

[Caelus Aurelius Bassianus]

Greetings all, this is my first post on this fantastic site. I have lurked for years, and have enjoyed reading so many in depth and wonderful threads. I need some information if at all possible, and I knew if anyone could come to my aid, it would be members of this site.

I am working on a concept for a fictional novel about the Praetorian Guards, specifically during the time of the reign of Aurelian. What Legions did Aurelian take to quell Zenobia's rebellion, and which Praetorian Cohorts accompanied him? Would said Cohort be attached to the Legion, or independent and answer only to the Emperor? At this time what would the ethnic makeup of the guard be?

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated, and I hope to make more contributions and interact in other posts in the near future.

[Nathan Ross]

Zosimus (Historia Nova, Book 1) describes Aurelian's army at Emesa as follows:

Finding the Palmyrene army drawn up before Emisa, amounting to seventy thousand men, consisting of Palmyrenes and their allies, [Aurelian] opposed to them the Dalmatian cavalry, the Moesians and Pannonians, and the Celtic legions of Noricum and Rhaetia, and besides these the choicest of the imperial regiment selected man by man, the Mauritanian horse, the Tyaneans, the Mesopotamians, the Syrians, the Phoenicians, and the Palestinians, all men of acknowledged valour; the Palestinians besides other arms wielding clubs and staves.

It appears from this that the core of the Roman force consisted of mobile detachments (vexillations) drawn from the legions of the Danube frontier (Raetia eastwards to Moesia), backed by select men of the Praetorian guard and supported by troops gathered from the eastern provinces (Zosimus uses 'celtic' very vaguely, btw, to refer to Germanic peoples generally!). The Historia Augusta refers to men of a 'third legion' (probably III Gallica) involved in the destruction of Palmyra, so we can assume that the legions of the eastern army were also attached to Aurelian's force.

The Praetorian cohorts always operated independently of the legions, under their own Praetorian Praefect (the emperor's deputy in the field). The third century Guard were descended from the cohorts reorganised in 193 by Severus, who disbanded the old guard and restored it using men picked from the Danube legions under his own command. By Aurelian's day the majority of the guard were probably once more men from Italy, the traditional recruiting ground. Many Guard centurions, however, were promoted from regular legions (via the vigiles and urban cohorts).

[alekaras5811]

I would be very curious to know if there is any evidence that the pretorian guard ever be assigned to protect someone other than the emperor. Lets say Germanicus who was a family member of the emperor?

[Frank]

I would be very curious to know if there is any evidence that the pretorian guard ever be assigned to protect someone other than the emperor. Lets say Germanicus who was a family member of the emperor?

IIRC 4 praetorian cohorts accompanied Germanicus on his campaign. It seems that this could just happen, if the general was the heir / co-emperor. What about Lucius Verus on his parthian campaign?

[Quintus Aurelius Lepidus]

according to the praetorian guard from sandra bingham , agrippina (mother of nero) was protected by praetorians but he later withdrew the protection.