Equipment

The arms, armor, and other equipment of a Praetorian Guardsman are now thought to have been similar to those of a regular legionary soldier, although it appears that the Guard retained the oval scutum of the Augustan period even after the legions had moved on to a rectangular scutum shape.  This practice seems to hold true until at least the Flavian period.

Praetorian vs Legionary Equipment

Specifically, the Flavian-era Cancellaria Relief in the Vatican Museum shows Praetorians wearing what may be termed "escort undress," that is, the uniform worn while accompanying the Emperor within the city of Rome.  The Guardsmen are depicted lacking body armor and helmets, without swords or dagger, but bearing pila and curved shields.  They wear military belts (cingulae) as well as the paenula (thigh-length cloak) and focale (neck scarf).  They may be confirmed as Praetorians by their distinctive shield insignia -- stars and moon -- and notably, the shields are indeed oval, not rectangular.  (See further below for more about unique Praetorian insignia.)

We can ascertain that Praetorians carried similar arms to regular legionary troops based on a variety of evidence.  One of the most fascinating literary clues comes from the Histories of Tacitus, who records that during a night battle in 69 CE, two Flavian milites -- Praetorian soldiers, in Boris Rankov's view -- endeavored to disguise themselves in order to infiltrate the lines of an opposing Roman legion.

To blend in with the enemy legionaries, the Guardsmen picked up shields from the enemy dead and were able to successfully reach their objective without being identified as hostile.

The Myth of Equipment Uniformity

The reliefs of Trajan’s Column were frequently cited in the past as evidence of clear distinctions of dress and arms between Praetorians, legionaries, and auxiliaries.  But an increasing body of archaeological and epigraphic evidence suggests that in fact, no uniform codes were prescribed.  Moreover, Roman soldiers paid for and replaced their own armament out of their personal salaries, which would tend to generate a wide variety of equipment quality and styles of manufacture.  Such wide variety is indeed confirmed by the archaeological record.

It was once presumed that all legionaries wore segmented armor after its introduction in the early 1st c. CE, and that after that time, the lorica hamata (mail shirt) was worn only by auxilia.  More recently, however, scholars such as Bishop and Maxfield have posited that there was a far greater diversity of armor within units.  Legionaries and auxiliaries may have worn either segmented or mail armor based on personal preference or local practice. Like legionaries, Praetorians wore mail shirts, then gradually and not universally transitioned into segmented cuirasses, and later came to favor scale mail in the late 2nd and 3rd centuries CE.

This passage suggests that if a presumably Praetorian soldier needed only to trade shields with an enemy in order to pass as one of their number, then the differences in weapons, helmets, and body armor between Praetorian and legionary troops must not have been significant.  Even assuming that Tacitus' disguised milites were not Praetorians, the story still demonstrates that the characteristic difference between Roman troops lay mostly in their shields and the unit insignia they bore.

Attic Helmets?

In the case of helmets, there has been no assumption that one style or another was prescribed for all members of a unit, since so many styles of helmet have been discovered within contemporary time periods.

The Praetorians were long thought to have worn a special Attic (Greek) style of helmet, but this conclusion appears to have been based on a common but misleading artistic representation.  No intact Attic helmets have been unearthed in Roman military contexts.  Instead, based on such evidence as Tacitus’ story above, scholars now believe that Praetorian Guardsmen wore helmets similar to their legionary contemporaries.  However, Mike Bishop and H. Russell Robinson before him have noted that brow-plates have been unearthed, suggesting some use of the Attic style helmet.  If the Attic style were in military use, it most likely would have been limited to officers such as tribunes and legates.

H. Russell Robinson, in his landmark work The Armour of Imperial Rome, explained the artistic convention of the Attic helmet as a representation of its singular use as parade armor.  Other authors, such as Lawrence Keppie, follow this argument (and even extend it to explain the Praetorian retention of oval shields after the legions had presumably moved on to prefer the rectangular shape).

However, Boris Rankov argues that this theory seems unlikely.  Praetorians would not have conducted public military parades within the city of Rome, due to the ancient custom forbidding armed troops within the city limits.  Troops participating in triumphal processions are known to have worn only the tunic (tunica) and decorative belt (cingulum militare), without armor or helmet.  It is not clear which weapons they might have carried on such a parade, if any.

The Soldier's Belt

The cingulum militare was the visible and audible hallmark of a soldier, who wore it with civilian as well as military dress.  The ornate belt included a swath of several hanging leather straps, embellished with small metal disks and fancy terminal pieces, which would jingle smartly as their wearer walked.

Herodian recorded that when Septimius Severus summarily discharged all the unfaithful Guardsmen upon his accession, he also denied them the honor of wearing the cingulum and its decorative dagger.  The symbolic gesture was intended to show that the ex-Praetorians were well and truly cashiered.

While armchair theorists once held that the belt had a protective function for the groin, it has become apparent from modern reconstruction and re-enactment that the swinging of weighted leather straps in the male genital area is more of a hazard than a defense!  Either the soldiers tied the straps up for running, or cinched the belt higher on the body to avoid injuring themselves.

The cingulum may well have had a function in the preservation of male modesty when wearing the tunica without pants (as the Romans were wont to do in hot or temperate weather).  The straps would normally fall between the legs, preventing wind or motion from lifting the tunic and exposing the soldier.  Similarly, when a soldier sat down or squatted, the straps would naturally fall between his legs, keeping the front of the tunic where it should be, and not gaping open if his legs were crossed, for example.