{{Short description|Roman imperial guard unit}} {{Roman government}} {{RomanMilitary}} [[File:Funerary Stela Corporis Custodes.jpg|thumb|Gravestone of Indus, a member of the Germanic Bodyguard<ref>National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome. Inscription: {{AE|1952|148}}: ''Indus / Neronis Claudi / Caesaris Aug(usti) / corpor(is) custos / dec(uria) Secundi / natione Batavus / vix(it) ann(os) XXXVI h(ic) s(itus) e(st) / posuit / Eumenes frater / et heres eius ex collegio / Germanorum'' "Indus, bodyguard of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus, of the Second Decuria, of the Batavian nation, [who] lived 36 years, is buried here. [The gravestone] was erected by his brother and heir, Eumenes, from the ''collegium'' of the Germanic tribesmen".</ref>]]
The '''Numerus Batavorum''',<ref>Suetonius, ''Caligula'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Caligula*.html#43 43].</ref> also called the '''cohors Germanorum''',<ref name="galba12">Suetonius, ''Galba'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Galba*.html#12 12].</ref> '''Germani corporis custodes''',<ref>Suetonius, ''Caligula'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Caligula*.html#58 58, 3] and inscriptions, e. g. {{AE|1952|148}}.</ref> '''Germani corpore custodes''',<ref>CIL VI 4340, 4342, 4343, 4437, 21068; AE (1976) 750, (1923) 73</ref> '''Imperial German Bodyguard'''{{sfn|Rankov|1994|p=5}} or '''Germanic bodyguard''',{{sfn|Grünewald|Schalles|2001|p=97}} was a personal, imperial guards unit for the Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (30 BC – AD 68) composed of Germanic soldiers. Although the Praetorians may be considered the Roman emperor's main bodyguard, the Germanic bodyguards were a unit of more personal guards recruited from distant parts of the Empire, so they had no political or personal connections with Rome or the provinces.{{sfn|Webster|1998|p=101}}
From ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'', it is known that Julius Caesar also had a Germanic bodyguard.<ref>Caesar, ''de bello Gallico'' [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/caesar/gall7.shtml#13 7, 13, 1].</ref><ref>Roymans, Nico (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=grWPtHGxIdwC&dq=%22germanic+Bodyguard%22&pg=PA97 ''Germania inferior''] (ed. Newald and Schalles), Walter de Gruyter, Berlin. {{ISBN|3-11-016969-X}}. p. 97{{in lang|en}}</ref>
== Overview == The members of the Numerus Batavorum were recruited from the Germanic tribes resident in, or on the borders of, the Roman province of Germania Inferior, with most recruits drawn from the Batavi<ref>CIL VI 8802, 8803, 8804, 8807; AE (1952) 146, 147, 148, 149, (1968) 32</ref> but also from neighbouring tribes of the Rhine delta region, including the Frisii,<ref>CIL VI 4342, VI 4343</ref> Baetasii<ref>CIL VI 8808</ref> and Ubii.<ref>CIL VI 8809</ref><ref>Roymans (2000), p. 258.</ref> Little is known about their organization; the 500 bodyguards were formed up in five ''centuries'', each century commanded by a centurion. From inscriptions it is known that there existed, as in all Roman cavalry units, the officer rank of decurion. The exact size of the unit, which was at least partially mounted, is also unknown, but is described in ancient sources as a cohort, which in this period normally implied a strength of 500 men or less, similar to a ''numerus'', whose size could vary. Under the Emperor Caligula, the Bodyguard may have consisted of 500 to 1,000 men.<ref>Alexandra W. Busch: ''Militär in Rom. Militärische und paramilitärische Einheiten im kaiserzeitlichen Stadtbild'' (= ''Palilia'' Vol. 20). Reichert, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 3-89500-706-4, ''Die Unterkunft der Germani corporis custodes'', p. 94</ref>
The Germanic Cohort was valued as loyal and reliable.<ref>Suetonius, ''Galba'' 12: ''multisque experimentis fidelissimam''.</ref> Emperors like Nero trusted the Germani especially because they were not of Roman origin.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'' [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/tacitus/tac.ann15.shtml#58 15, 58]: ''Germanis, quibus fidebat princeps quasi externis''.</ref> <!-- Batavians, the rest were Ubians and some Baetasians. From the actions of the Germanic bodyguards unit in situations of crisis, it can be deduced that extreme loyalty (cohors fidelissima) and bravery were the character traits to which this unit owed its existence. (Bellen 1981, 82 ff.) -->
The guard was disbanded briefly after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest,<ref>Suetonius, ''Augustus'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#49 49.1]</ref> and was finally dissolved by Galba in 68<ref name="galba12"/> because of its loyalty to Nero (ruled 54–68), whom he had overthrown. The decision caused deep offense to the Batavi, and contributed to the outbreak of the Revolt of the Batavi in the following year.<ref>Tacitus ''Hist.'' II.5</ref> Their indirect successors were the ''Equites singulares Augusti'' which were, likewise, mainly recruited from the Germani. They were apparently so similar to the Julio-Claudians' earlier Germanic Bodyguard that they were given the same nickname, the "Batavi".<ref>Fuhrmann, Christopher J. (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=3iFkUtPZhzYC&pg=PA128 ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order''], OUP, New York, pp 128/129. {{ISBN|978-0-19-973784-0}}</ref>
Herod the Great, a client king of Judea, had a Germanic bodyguard modeled upon that of Augustus.<ref name=Guard>{{cite book |last=Rocca |first=Samuel |author-link=Herwig Wolfram |year=2009 |title=The Army of Herod the Great |url= https://www.ospreypublishing.com/us/army-of-herod-the-great-9781846032066/ |publisher=Osprey Publishing |pages=15–16 |isbn=978-1-8460-3206-6 |access-date=8 March 2014}}</ref>
== See also == * Leibgarde * The Varangian Guard, serving in the period from under the Eastern emperor Basil II and culminating in the 1204 Sack of Constantinople
== References == {{reflist|20em}}
== Bibliography == {{refbegin|30em}} * {{Cite book |last1=Grünewald |first1=Thomas |last2=Schalles |first2=Hans-Joachim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mrRoAAAAMAAJ |title=Germania inferior |date=2001 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-016969-0 |language=de}} * {{Cite book |last=Rankov |first=Boris |title=The Praetorian Guard |date=1994 |publisher=Osprey |isbn=978-1-85532-361-2 }} * {{Cite book |last=Webster |first=Graham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0f4SEf7rosC |title=The Roman Imperial Army of the First and Second Centuries AD |date=1998 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3000-2 |edition=3rd |orig-year=3rd edition first published 1985 }} {{refend}}
== Further reading == * Ross Cowan: [https://www.academia.edu/97062892/Roman_Guardsman_62_BC_AD_324_proof_ ''Roman Guardsman 62 BC - AD 324''] (Oxford 2014) * Michael P. Speidel: ''Germani Corporis Custodes''. In: ''Germania'' 62, 1984, pp. 31–34 (not evaluated). {{in lang|de}} * Oliver Stoll: ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=A0R2HCwM--oC&pg=PA232 Leibwache]''. In: ''Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde''. 2. Aufl. Bd. 18. Berlin: Walter de Gruyer, 2001, p. 232-233 {{ISBN|3-11-016950-9}}
== External links == * [http://www.kriegsreisende.de/antike/leibgarde.htm Die germanische Leibgarde der julisch-claudischen Kaiser ("The Germanic Bodyguard of the Julio-Claudian Emperors")] at kriegsreisende.de.
Category:Roman auxiliaries Category:Early Germanic warfare Category:Military units and formations of ancient Rome Category:Military units and formations established in the 1st century BC