In Popular Culture
In Modern English, the phrase "praetorian guard(s)" designates an exclusive, unconditionally loyal group personally attached to powerful people, especially leaders such as Napoleon I's Imperial Guard, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's Battalion M, Adolf Hitler's 1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler troops, Romania's former communist leader Ceauşescu's Securitate, and, in current times, Khamenei's IRGC in Iran (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). However, the term is also used in unarmed, even private contexts: for example, a corporate officer or politician may have a small group of associates or followers whom a journalist may describe as a "praetorian guard." Such use is often pejorative, meant to indicate that the followers are fanatics or extremists and/or that the leader is tyrannical or paranoid. Praetorianism is used to mean the advocacy or practice of military dictatorship. John Stockwell, a former member of the CIA, used the title The Praetorian Guard for his book about the negative aspects of US foreign policy.
The Praetorian Guard features in the 2000 film Gladiator and the TV-film Age of Treason (Columbia 1993). The Guard's soldiers appear as infantry units in Civilization IV, Rome: Total War, Travian and in the video game with title being part of it Praetorians.
The Praetorians are a regiment of the Imperial Guard in the tabletop game Warhammer 40,000 (although these are themed after 19th century British Empire soldiers; it is more likely the influence for the name comes from Pretoria, an important city in colonial South Africa). There are also Necron squads called 'Triarch Praetorians', which consist of elite warriors that are able to fly.
In the film The Net, the 'cyber-terrorists' who use the internet to destroy the protagonist's life, at the bidding of a millionaire computer entrepreneur are called 'Praetorians'.
In the Game "Fallout: New Vegas" One of the factions "Caesars Legion" uses a Praetorian guard that are hand picked. They are invited to the guard when they have served long enough and killed enough of Caesar's enemies to become Centurions. The select few invited must pick out a current member whom they believe is the weakest and challenge them to an unarmed fight to the Death. If the invitee wins they take over the loser's position.
In the 2012 video game Hitman: Absolution, praetorians are nicknames for the bodyguards employed by Agency boss Benjamin Travis.
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