Riding for Caesar: The Roman Emperors' Horse Guards

by Michael P. Speidel

Caesar praised them in his Commentaries . Trajan had them carved on his Column. Hadrian wrote poems about them. Well might these rulers have immortalized the horse guard, whose fortunes so closely kept pace with their own. Riding for Caesar follows these horsemen from their rally to rescue Caesar at Noviodunum in 52 BC to their last stand alongside Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. It offers a colorful picture of these horsemen in all their changing guises and duties―as the emperor’s bodyguard or his parade troops, as a training school and officer’s academy for the Roman army, or as a shock force in the endless wars of the second and third centuries.

Written by one of the world’s leading authorities on the Roman army, this history reveals the remarkable part the horse guard played in the fate of the Roman empire.

Genres: History

223 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1994

About the author

Michael Paul Speidel is a German-born American military historian and archaeologist who specializes in the study of the Roman army and ancient warfare. He is considered one of the world's foremost experts on ancient warfare.

Reviews

[Paul Overend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely specialized subject, focusing on the horse guards of the Emperors. In the Roman Army of the first three centuries of Empire the cavalry was the secondary arm and this book looks at just the mounted Imperial guard, so very niche. However it covers its topic in great depth and is likely the best source of information on these specialized units.