Cohortes urbanae
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The cohortes urbanae (Latin meaning urban cohorts), led by the urban prefect, of ancient Rome were created by Augustus to counterbalance the enormous power of the praetorian guard in the city of Rome and serve as a police force.
Duties
Their primary role was to police Rome and to counteract the roaming mobs and gangs that so often haunted its streets during the Republic. The urban cohorts thus acted as a heavy duty police force, capable of riot control duties, while their contemporaries, the Vigiles, were tasked with the day to day role of policing the streets and protecting against fires. As a trained, para-military organisation, the Urban Cohorts could on rare occasions take to the field of battle if necessary but this role was only called upon in dire situations.
Organisation
They were divided in nine cohorts, each consisting about 1,000 men and only free citizens were eligible to serve in their ranks. As with the Praetorians, the men of the Urban cohorts were predominantly of Italian stock [1]. Urban cohorts were later created in both the Roman north African city of Carthage and the city of Lyon, France, known to the Romans as Gaul.[2].
In popular media
- The Urban Cohorts are shown in the 2004 PC game Rome: Total War. They are inaccurately portrayed as the strongest of the Roman heavy infantry units.
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References