Few students of the Later Roman Empire could claim, if they were honest, that they fully understood all the nice distinctions between the various corps of palace guards — the 'protectores', the 'domestici', the 'protectores domestici', 'scholae', 'candidati', 'excubitores', 'scribones', etc. With characteristic lucidity and brevity A. H. M. Jones introduced order into the chaos in most people's minds in Ch. xvii of his 'Later Roman Empire' (1964). While seldom differing from Jones in matters of substance, Frank has provided a careful and thorough account of the character, recruitment, and function of these bodies. His general thesis is that their role was not so much a 'military academy for the training of officers' (as often assumed) as 'to serve the Emperor personally, not only to guard him and to assist in court ceremonies but also to serve as agents of imperial control in the provinces and in army headquarters.
Author(s): Richard I. Frank
Series: Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome, 23
Publisher: American Academy in Rome
Year: 1969
Language: English
Pages: XIV+262
Preface ix
Table of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Part 1: Origins of the scholae
Chapter I. Imperial Palaces 7
II. Imperial Headquarters Troops 17
Part 2: Development of the scholae
III. Formation and Organization 47
IV. Recruitment 59
V. 'Protectores et domestici' 81
VI. Duties 99
VII. Elite Units 127
VIII. Imperial Ceremonies 147
Part 3: Historical role of the scholae
IX. 'Scholares' and the Military Elite (A.D. 361-540) 167
X. Reform in the East (A.D. 457-565) 201
Conclusion 221
Bibliography 233
General Index 249
