The Elite

by Ranulph Fiennes

  In the darkness, the men soon started to scale the mountain, desperately looking for secure hand- and footholds, with every move a life-or-death decision. Knowing they couldn’t make any noise, the men were unable to hammer any metal spikes into the rock face to secure a rope or help provide added grip. In their place, they carried rocks of various sizes, which they lodged into cracks. These could help to either secure a rope or act as a foot- or handhold. Some, however, preferred to free climb. This not only cut down on noise, but also time. Yet it was incredibly dangerous at the best of times, let alone in the pitch-black. It is a prospect that brings me out in a cold sweat, although at least in the darkness you would not be able to see the drop below.

  But Alexander’s mountain climbers soon faced a new threat. Already exposed to the elements, they were before long lashed by freezing rain. With their hands quickly becoming frozen, the rocks also became perilously wet, making it almost impossible to find a grip. Feeling blindly around for something to hold, many lost their grasps and fell to their deaths. As promised, those brave souls fell without so much as a scream to avoid alerting the enemy. Meanwhile, their surviving comrades continued upwards, inch by inch.

  From his base at the foot of the mountain, Alexander received the casualty reports. By dawn, a dozen men had fallen to their deaths. This saddened him but he at least still had 288 men climbing the rock face. But another test now arrived. With daylight breaking, the men had to hide on the rock all day, waiting until the sun set before they could resume their perilous climb. Without the cover of darkness, they were dangerously exposed to the elements, as well as to being detected by Oxyartes’ sentries. For Alexander’s plan to work, the element of surprise was crucial. Hiding in nooks and crannies, they used the snow to hydrate themselves, while waiting for nightfall.

  Thankfully, the day passed without Oxyartes seeing, or even suspecting, that Alexander’s men were climbing the mountain. As darkness descended, these tired, hungry and thirsty men again began to climb. However, while they might be getting closer to the summit, they were also getting closer to the enemy, who significantly outnumbered them. If they should be spotted, they would be hit by a shower of arrows and spears. And if they were to be captured, torture and death would await. But still they continued on, motivated by Alexander’s promised prize.

  Upon rising the following morning, Alexander looked to the summit for any white sheets. There were none. All his men looked to have perished in the night. This represented a tremendous setback and put all his invasion plans in jeopardy. However, from the base of the Sogdian Rock, Alexander suddenly saw a white sheet fluttering in the wind, then another, and another, as more of his warriors reached the towering summit. Incredibly, 270 of his 300 men had defied the impossible odds and made it to the top.

  There was now no time to waste. With this signal, Alexander launched his double-edged attack. His ground forces swiftly advanced up the rock, just as Oxyartes and his rebels noticed the threat from above. The warlord was astonished to see Alexander’s men surrounding the base from above and below. He truly believed that Alexander’s soldiers must have wings. At this sight, the confidence drained out of him and he surrendered without a fight, just as Alexander had hoped.

  Finally, Alexander had control over this rebellious region and could make his move into India. However, he realised that to maintain this control he now needed to change tack. Conveniently, Oxyartes’ daughter, Roxana, was described as one of the most beautiful women in the land, and Alexander fell in love with her at first sight. He also realised that, if they were to marry, this would give him a strong family foothold in the region. Thankfully, Roxana agreed to his request for marriage. To further cement this foothold, Alexander appointed Oxyartes as the governor of the Hindu Kush region, which adjoined India. His one-time enemy now had a stake in his failure and success. It was another brilliant move, as Oxyartes persuaded other warlords to rally behind his new son-in-law.

  Alexander’s victory at the Sogdian Rock cleared the way for his invasion of India in 327 BC, where he won an important victory at the Battle of the Hydaspes. However, as his forces marched east, across the Punjab, and reached the Hyphasis River, his troops finally mutinied, worn out from years of conquests, refusing to go any further. Alexander reluctantly accepted the end of his monumental quest and began the extremely dangerous journey back to Macedonia.

  On his journey home, he was badly wounded by an arrow, which lodged in his chest. Despite surviving this injury, he would finally perish in June 323 BC, at the age of thirty-two. Historians are unclear as to the cause of his death. Some believe it was a disease or infection such as malaria or cholera. Others suggest he was poisoned by an assassin, while some believe he might have even committed suicide after becoming depressed.

  Nonetheless, within less than two decades, Alexander had truly earned the title of the most dangerous man in the world. In his capacity as king, commander, politician, scholar and explorer, he led his army over 11,000 miles, founding over seventy cities and creating an empire that stretched across three continents and covered around 2 million square miles. That he never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered, is not only testament to his leadership but also to the strength of his elite special forces, the Companion Cavalry, and the mountain men of the Sogdian Rock.

  However, Alexander’s death soon sparked a bitter power struggle. At the time, Roxana was pregnant with Alexander’s only heir. As such, she decided to ensure her unborn son had a clear path to the throne, murdering Alexander’s other wife, Stateira, as well as her sister and her cousin. Upon her son’s birth, Roxana named him after his father and it seemed that he would follow in his father and grandfather’s footsteps. Yet the power struggle continued to rage, culminating in Roxana, and the young Alexander, being murdered by four Macedonian generals. The generals subsequently carved up separate parts of the empire between them and ruled until the coming of the Roman legions some 300 years later. And while Rome would have its own special forces to thank for furthering its empire, they were also intent on destroying it from within, as not every elite special force always acted in the best interests of their leader . . .

  5

  THE ROMAN PRAETORIAN GUARD

  AD 41

  As the Roman emperor Caligula sat on his throne in the imperial palace, watching a series of games and dramatics, his elite imperial guard surrounded him on all sides. Sporting their famous Attic helmets, body armour and rectangular scutum shields, they sent out the message to the large and boisterous crowd that to get to the emperor they would first have to go through them. From the death of Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC through to the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, an event that effectively ended the Roman Republic and saw Augustus become Rome’s first emperor in 27 BC, Rome was always full of conspiracies, and there was no shortage of individuals to carry them out. It was for this very reason that Augustus had been inspired to create the Praetorian Guard.

  By the time Augustus had come to power, the Roman world stretched to the Middle East and included much of western, central and southern Europe, as well as north Africa and Turkey. Unsurprisingly, the head of the Roman Empire was always a target and required protection at all times. Indeed, Augustus knew this more than most. While his life was always under threat in times of conflict, it was even in danger when walking the streets of Rome. In 39 BC, he had been stoned by starving rioters when their grain supply had run low and had only just escaped with his life thanks to the help of a few attendants.

  Forming a personal bodyguard was hardly revolutionary for a man in Augustus’s position. Over the preceding centuries, those in high positions in Rome had always employed some form of guard. However, the Praetorians were a far more permanent, regulated and co-ordinated force than anything that had gone before. Serving with one purpose, to protect the emperor and his family at all times, they would not only be at his side but they also sought out, and crushed, any threats of rebellion. With his rise to power heralding the end of the
republic, Augustus needed to assert his authority and have a guard he could trust to carry out his demands. While his rule was never explicitly said to be a military dictatorship, the Guard allowed him to maintain power with an iron grip, while also putting on the charade that he was overseeing a democracy.

  However, as the Guard grew, with Cassius Dio estimating there to be as many as 10,000 by AD 5, their duties became ever more haphazard. Staffing prisons, and collecting taxes, it was said that sometimes they also acted as Rome’s fire brigade, with the emperor dispatching his personal guard to blazes in the city so that he could show the citizenry he was concerned for their welfare. On the tomb of one Praetorian Guard, Vinnius Valens, it was even recorded that he would hold up wine carts while they were emptied or use his strength to force wagons to come to a halt with one hand. The Guard clearly occupied a number of positions in Rome, and came to take on utmost importance. However, its primary duty was always to ensure the emperor’s safety.

  On this mild winter’s day, Caligula’s life was in the hands of Cassius Chaerea, who had endured the rigorous Praetorian recruitment and training process to be trusted with such a prestigious duty. Meeting the initial requirements, Chaerea hailed from central Italy, was between the required age of fifteen and thirty-two, was in good physical condition, had a good moral character, and came from a respectable family. In addition, he also managed to obtain letters of recommendation from important leading figures in society. With this, he was based at the fortress-like Castra Praetoria, just outside the perimeters of Rome, where he lived and trained with up to 15,000 other Guards. Unfortunately, specific details regarding the Praetorians’ training have been lost to time, as have many details of Chaerea’s service, but we know via the ancient historian Tacitus that he had distinguished himself on the Germanic frontier with bravery and skill.

  Like many before him, Chaerea had no doubt been lured to the Guards by the many benefits the role had to offer. Not only were the Guards the only individuals who were permitted to bear arms in the centre of sacred Rome, their mandatory service was far less than that required for the legions, having to serve sixteen years compared to twenty. Moreover, their pay was substantially higher, said to be at least double the pay of a legionary. This was further augmented by the donativum, a sum awarded to the Guard by each new emperor. This could amount to the equivalent of several years’ pay, and was sometimes repeated at events of great importance. Entering the Guard also presented the likes of Chaerea with a route to the top. A Guard could climb the ranks, going as high as the Praetorian Prefecture, whereby he would serve as a representative of the emperor. Some Guards even entered politics upon their retirement, with their eye on succeeding the emperor himself. Unsurprisingly, the Praetorians regarded themselves as a cut above the rest of the Roman military machine, and it gave the men involved considerable standing in their communities.

  Yet Chaerea’s job was not an easy one. Guarding the emperor was always a challenge but even more so when it came to the likes of the volatile Caligula. Rude and demanding, the emperor never missed an opportunity to mock Chaerea’s voice and even gave him passwords that were designed to shame and embarrass him. Suetonius has reported that whenever Caligula had Chaerea kiss his ring, Caligula would ‘hold out his hand to kiss, forming and moving it in an obscene fashion’. And yet, despite taking every opportunity to insult the man guarding his life, Caligula actually had the Praetorian Guard to thank for his ascension to the throne.

  Caligula’s father, Germanicus, was the nephew, and adopted son, of Augustus’s successor, Tiberius. Nevertheless, he was designated as Tiberius’s heir, even above his own son, Drusus. Tiberius recognised that Germanicus not only came from the bloodline of Augustus, but was also an acclaimed military leader, playing a crucial role in repressing a mutiny by the armed forces in Germania. His loyalty to Tiberius was also without question.

  However, Sejanus, Tiberius’s Praetorian prefect, also had his eyes on the throne. To get it, he would need to make a series of power plays to get rid of his rivals. Firstly, he falsely informed Tiberius that Germanicus, father of Caligula, was plotting against him. Enraged by this betrayal, Tiberius poisoned the man he had once earmarked as his heir. Caligula’s mother sought revenge against Tiberius but she was detained and imprisoned, along with her sons. However, due to Caligula’s young age, Tiberius opted to spare him and instead sent him to live with his mother.

  With Germanicus and his family out of the way, Sejanus proceeded to kill Tiberius’s next heir – his son, Drusus. Following Tiberius’s withdrawal from Rome in AD 26 to reside in Capri, Sejanus was left in charge, with Tiberius calling him socium laborum, ‘my partner in labours’. It appeared Sejanus’s plan had worked. He was now next in line to the throne.

  At this, Sejanus established the Praetorian Guard within Rome itself, at the newly built Castra Praetoria. While this allowed him ever more control over Rome’s most elite military force, he also wanted all of Rome to know it. To prove this, he ordered the Praetorians to put on an exhibition of their drill in front of watching senators. This display put them all on warning that Sejanus was in charge. Meanwhile, he controlled access to Tiberius, ensuring that he only passed on the messages he liked, and ignored those he didn’t. Sejanus’s power in Rome was soon unchallenged by any heir or rival and it was only a matter of time before he secured the greatest prize of all.

  However, when Tiberius discovered Sejanus’s plotting in AD 31 he ordered him to be executed. His body was subsequently thrown down the Gemonian Stairs, which led down from the Capitoline Hill to the Roman Forum, while his children, and any known associates, were also killed.

  By this time, the only surviving heir to the throne was Caligula, with Sejanus having eliminated all other rivals. Caligula was subsequently sent to live with Tiberius on the island of Capri, where he was adopted by his father’s killer. Tiberius, however, had no illusions about his heir, stating, ‘I am bringing up a viper for the Roman people and Phaethon for the world.’ When Tiberius passed away in AD 37, Caligula became emperor of Rome at just twenty-five years of age, chillingly telling his grandmother, ‘Remember, I can do anything to anybody.’

  Despite this, Caligula initially proved to be immensely popular. He granted bonuses to those in the military, including the Praetorian Guard, eliminated unfair taxes and freed those who were unjustly imprisoned. He also ensured Rome was never short of entertainment, laying on lavish chariot races, gladiator shows and plays, while also building a new racetrack known as the Circus of Gaius. Infrastructure also received heavy investment. New roads were built, existing roads repaired, and Caligula’s improvements to the harbour at Rhegium and Sicily allowed increased grain imports from Egypt, so that his people would never go hungry. The aqueducts, Aqua Claudia and Anio Novus, were also considered engineering marvels of their time.

  However, at the imperial palace in AD 41, those achievements now seemed a distant memory. While he was surrounded by Chaerea and his fellow Praetorians, Caligula also had a team of guards mingling with the crowd, wearing simple togas in order to blend in. Known as Speculatores, they acted as Caligula’s secret police, listening out for any criticism of the emperor and, if necessary, arresting those they believed to be a threat. And on this day, they had their work cut out. During the proceedings, some in the crowd took the opportunity to beg Caligula to lighten their burden a little by remitting taxes. Rather than address these issues, Caligula instead nodded to his Speculatores. Moments later they had arrested any of those who continued to shout at the emperor and dragged them kicking and screaming towards their deaths.

  At the sight of this, most chose to keep their opinions to themselves. They were well aware that, at a previous games, Caligula was said to have ordered his guards to throw an entire section of the audience into the arena, where they were eaten by wild beasts. On occasion, he had also forced his Praetorian Guard to do battle with the beasts just for his own amusement. Such stories merely emphasise how Caligula’s reign had descended into a
narchy.

  His problems appear to have begun just a few short months after taking power, when he fell seriously ill, with some suggesting he had been poisoned. While he recovered physically, his mental well-being was said to have been dramatically affected.

  Following this bout of illness, Caligula suddenly delighted in humiliating those around him. A favourite pastime was to sleep with other men’s wives and then brag about it, killing their husbands should they complain. Suetonius and Cassius Dio also accused Caligula of engaging in incest with his sisters and claim he prostituted them to other men.

  Gripped by paranoia, Caligula also began to execute all those close to him. As his support base dwindled, he made extravagant payments to keep supporters on side but this caused Rome to suffer a severe financial crisis in AD 39. The ancient historian Suetonius, in his The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, claimed that, to dig himself out of this hole, Caligula began to falsely accuse, fine and even kill individuals for the purpose of seizing their estates. He was also said to levy taxes on lawsuits, weddings and prostitution. In the first year of Caligula’s reign, he squandered over 2.7 billion sesterces.

  Despite these financial difficulties, and with some of his people reduced to starvation, Caligula continued to spend money freely on a catalogue of outrageous whims. For instance, in response to Thrasyllus of Mendes’ claim that Caligula had ‘no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae’, he built a temporary floating bridge, using ships as pontoons, which stretched for over 2 miles, from the resort of Baiae to the neighbouring port of Puteoli. Upon the bridge’s completion, Caligula, who could not swim, proceeded to ride his favourite horse, Incitatus, across the water wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. This was all at great expense, and the bridge was of course only temporary, so served no larger purpose than pandering to Caligula’s ego.