The article is devoted to the ceremonial functions of the Praetorian Guard and their significance for the political culture of the Principate. In particular, the author studies state-dynastic ceremonies in order to see the visual manifestations of the Praetorians’ political role, that helps to understand the hidden mechanisms of power. To achieve this goal, the author applies the methodology of the performative turn, considering ceremonies and rituals as staged performances organized with a political aim for certain addressees. The author concludes that state-dynastic ceremonies with the Guard’s participation were important for legitimizing princeps’ power. For instance, acclamatio acted as the primary institutional ritual of providing the candidate for emperor with supreme power. At the same time, triumphus and adventus served as consensus rituals of support for the ruling regime and approval of its policies. The Praetorians’ leading role in these ceremonies shows that the guards’ position in the hierarchy of the imperial court was close to the senatorial and equestrian positions. For this reason, Guard’s opinion had a significant influence on political decision-making.
Acknowledgments: this study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 20-18-00374, The Imperial Mediterranean: Models, Discourses, and Practices of Imperialism from Antiquity to the Early Modern Time).
For citation: Ivanova E.S. Ceremonial functions of the Praetorian Guard under the Principate, Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2025, iss. 1, pp. 70—80.