Herculians

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Jovians and Herculians were the imperial guard of the Emperors of the Roman Empire from 284 until 988.

The Praetorian Guard was based at Castra Praetoria just outside Rome, and during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian were in league with the Roman Senate. So in 284, Diocletian, who lived in Nicomedia, promoted two faithful legions of Illyricum (Legio V Iovia and VI Herculia) to be the personal protectors of the Roman Emperors, a practise that remained intact with the tetrarchy. On their promotion, the two old legions, each of about six thousand men, were renamed Jovians and Herculians. In 988 they in their turn were replaced in the Byzantine Empire by the Varangian Guard.

See also List of Roman legions.

External links

• The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Vol 1 Chapter XIII New Bodies of Guards, Jovians and Herculians

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