No civilization in the ancient world relied more heavily on intelligence information, nor furthered the development of espionage, than ancient Rome.
Over a millennium, the Romans created the largest empire of the ancient world, necessitating the governance by the most expansive infrastructure, military, and bureaucracy for the period.
However, discovering traces of intelligence operations, that occurred 2,000 years ago–which even then, were meant to be secret–is no small task, but it is not an impossible one. Military Intelligence groups, are as old as civilization itself, and once the steps in the process have been identified, they can be traced to almost any civilization that left historical records.
Intelligence is restricted to crucial information about the target or enemy–his strength, location, likely intentions, and capabilities.
Also, good intelligence has a time factor; it must be quickly collected, analyzed, and delivered in time for the user to act upon it.
The last step is dissemination.
Even if intelligence is collected and analyzed correctly, it will be of no value if the product is not conveyed to the end user, in sufficient time for him to act upon it.
Rome’s most famous case of espionage and intrigue, culminated in the assassination of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 b.c.
The exact details of the assassination conspiracy remain a mystery to historians, but records have established the Roman intelligence community knew of the plot and even provided information to Caesar, or his assistants, including the names of several conspirators.
As is often the case, the information from the intelligence community, was ignored.
Clandestine and covert operations usually garner the most intrigue, but the history of espionage is better described in terms of evolution, as mundane components of trade craft grew from small, privately orchestrated networks, to a nationalized one, while nobility took its family interests into the foreign-policy arena.
Though, much of the cloak-and-dagger work of senatorial politics is forever lost to us, it is not hard to imagine what forms it took.
Certainly political scandal played its part in launching, as well as sinking, the careers of numerous senators.
For example: An account of the Catiline conspiracy -the most notorious threat to the late republic, had to be quelled by Cicero using bodyguards, who learned of the plot, through the consul’s wide-ranging espionage network.
Pompey and Caesar, each had intelligence networks, which they used against each other in the civil war, that ultimately brought down the republic.
Caesar’s agents in Rome, kept a close watch on his enemies.
Cicero, for example, also mentions in a letter that his epigrams were reported to Caesar, who could distinguish between the authentic ones and those falsely attributed to him.
As long as Caesar held control of Rome, during the civil war, the city’s population rejoiced with his victories and mourned his losses, at least publicly.
They knew full well, there were spies prowling about, observing all that was said and done.
Caesar’s military couriers, the speculatores, were kept busy delivering intelligence, but were also given espionage assignments.
As an individual who could make the best of the republican system, Caesar coordinated his intelligence assets well.
He established a rapid message and information transport systems, via couriers,.
His scouts and spies, used counterintelligence techniques, such as codes and ciphers, to prevent his military plans from falling into the hands of the enemy.
The principal security concern of Augustus, was to secure his own position, against domestic enemies among the senatorial class.
For this reason, Augustus set restrictions on the movement of senators and created the professional armed forces (army and navy).
Roman intelligence activities were performed by various units, whose functions often overlapped.
Originally, the Frumentarii, Beneficiarii, Speculatores and Exploratores
were specialized body of troops who provided supplies to the Roman legions and gave them detailed reports about enemy forces.
In Imperial times, particularly during the reign of emperor Hadrian, these units gradually became part of a secret service body, who loyally served the Princeps.
These elite troops were headquartered in the Castra Peregrinaon the Mons Caelius in Rome and operated under the command of the Princeps Peregrinorum, a powerful officer responsible for the security of the Roman State, who answered directly to the emperor.
All the “insiders” of the intelligence worked in the regime during wartime, but during the periods of peace, many were diverted to other positions, leaving the job of informers, to merchants and diplomats; the Magister officiorum, the high official on whom they depended, kept them under strict control, and given the strategic importance of their knowledge.
All of the bodyguard units and regular soldiers, could be used as undercover operatives to spy upon the populace and for any variety of other missions -even in secret missions like assassinations or arrests, which were usually entrusted to the Praetorians and/or Speculatores.
In addition to this, Augustus made the Praetorians and foreign bodyguards permanent units.
As successor, Augustus, had a better opportunity, to develop the system Caesar started.
Like the Babylonians and Persians before them, Romans combined their road network, with a centrally administered communications system, to help ensure the security of the emperor and the stability of the empire.
Augustus may have been heir to Caesar’s ideas, or perhaps he instinctively knew what the new empire needed.
In any case, he was smart enough to realize, intelligence reforms were long overdue.
The Roman Empire possessed a special fondness for the practice of political espionage, in both foreign and domestic political operations.
Gauging the political climate of the Empire and surrounding lands, were done by eavesdropping in the Forum or public market spaces.
Augustus’ first intelligence-gathering and dissemination-related innovation, was the establishment of a state postal and messenger service called the cursus publicus, which replaced the inadequate republican system of private messengers.
Thanks to the public post, Augustus was able to obtain accurate
intelligence reports in a timely manner and disseminate official propaganda where needed.
Messengers of the public post, traveled on wagons and carts all the way up to the recipient, so the messenger could be interrogated in person, for additional pieces of information.
There also existed, a separate network of horse stations, for urgent military messages by mounted couriers.
If the information was not adequate, the emperors were in the habit of sending investigators to obtain additional information.
Though, the Romans used secret ciphers to hide the content of the message, when necessary, they also had a a system of guard towers placed at strategic locales, along the frontiers to transmit messages of approaching enemy forces, by using fire, smoke signals, or mirrors.
It was possible to send an advance warning of
the invasion quickly with this system, but the means of delivery meant, such messages could not contain many details.
By furnishing a means of transport and communications, Augustus built the rudiments of what became the Imperial Security Service.
Now there would be an official, permanent, and reliable way to communicate political and military intelligence.
Although the cursus publicus provided a reliable means of transmitting important intelligence, sending dispatches by this method did not ensure sufficient security, if there was a traitor within the system.
Secret and not-so-secret communications, often played a critical role in political events.
Quite frequently intelligence couriers, doubled as political assassins.
For example The emperor Gordian sent a secret letter, was described by the historian Herodian, as having been folded in a manner, that was
‘the normal method used by the emperor to send private, secret messages.’
No further details are given, but evidently such messages were sealed in a certain way and carried by special messengers.
In Gordian’s case, the message was sent to the governor of Mauretania Caesariensis, as part of a covert operation.
The agents were disguised as messengers from Maximinus, the emperor’s enemy.
They knew the governor, Vitalianus, usually went to a small room, off the public court, where he could scrutinize the dispatches carefully.
The agents were instructed to tell him, they were bringing secret instructions from Maximinus and to request a private audience, in order to pass secret instructions personally.
While Vitalianus was examining the seals, they killed him with swords hidden under their cloaks.
As the system of the cursus publicus developed, the couriers were drawn increasingly from the army, especially from the speculatores.
The 300 Speculatores (Spies) formed Augustus’s personal bodyguards.
They also gathered information on Rome’s external enemies , functioned as elite reconnaissance units, and collectors of intelligence.
At times, they also acted as assassins and torturers, on behalf of the emperor.
The use of Speculatores was not limited to the Princeps. Provincial guards also employed them for similar purposes.
Evidence shows that Speculatores often operated alone, in pairs, or small groups and were executed if captured.
The Exploratores were a trained scouting unit to be found in every roman legio.
They were sent forward in screening operations and reconnaissance missions, providing excellent situational awareness to Roman legions.
As evidence from the panels of the Trajan’s Column in Rome shows, they were given first-class horses and equipment, in order to increase their mobility when carrying out combat intelligence missions behind enemy lines, such as raids, attacks on enemy outposts, and foraging operations.
The Speculatores operated alongside of the Cohors Praetoriae in Rome, in particular of the Equites Singulares Augusti, were led by a Centurio Speculatorum Augustorum, a powerful Praetorian officer.
The Praetorian Guard or Cohors Praetoriae, were used by emperors as means of terror tactics, assassinations, and gathering of intelligence, similarly to the Frumentarii.
They could also be used for undercover activities such as spying, arresting political figures, guarding suspects and detainees, or executing condemned men.
The Gospel of St. Mark 6:27 indicates that it was a speculator, who was sent to the prison with an execution order for John the Baptist.
Romans carried out their domestic and foreign policy objectives, but good intelligence analysts know, not all information is ‘intelligence.’
Augustus’s contribution to the system was to make it a formal part of the imperial administration, which was maintained by the state and his successors.
Under Augustus and his successors, the Senate became a mere rubber stamp for the decisions made in the household of the emperor.
The most important matters of the state, including all details related to espionage, were discussed and analyzed in the Consilium (Council) of the emperor.
The ever-expanding Roman Empire, often spied on its neighbors.
Not only did intelligence forces provide comprehensive reports on the military strength and resources of those outside the empire, but the Roman military also employed intelligence forces to infiltrate tribal organizations and convince leaders to join in alliance with Rome.
If populations were judged hostile by informants, the military was informed, and engaged the opposing forces.
This type of intelligence campaign, was very successful in the Italian Peninsula during the fourth century b.c., but far less effective in the later campaigns, to conquer North Africa and Northern Europe.
The most notorious intelligence gathering organization of the early emperors, was the unit of Frumentarii
-used as messengers, spies and assassins, but eventually became synonymous with the abuse of power.
Originally, since the time of Hadrian, there were the frumentarii o Truthic mensores, officially employed to supply the legions, in reality came to assume the role of couriers or rather secret police agents, precisely because of their attitude of travelers, where they came in contact with the peasants, servants and troops, they were aware of the secrets of all, and therefore considered particularly valuable, for the maintenance and security of the Senate and the Emperor.
Some according to their personal attitudes, changed their passive role as a listener to secret courier.
The most enterprising, however, were armed and, if necessary, they had the license to pass traitors to arms; this marks the passage from a body dedicated to gathering information, to a judging and executive body.
As secret police agents, the frumentarii , participated in the persecution of Christians.
The soldier who supervised Saint Paul in Rome, while he was awaiting trial was a frumentarius.
Early Church historian, Eusebius reports the tale of a Christian, named Dionysius who was being hunted by the secret police.
He hid in his house for four days. Meanwhile the frumentarius searched high and low, but never thought to search the man’s house.
Dionysius made his escape, with the help of the Christian underground.
Several ancient accounts, especially those of the first century, mention the presence of the frumentarii, who also played a crucial role in breaching the personal security of emperors, as they had a privileged connection to the Praetorian Guard.
They acted as internal secret police, couriers and security enforcers, carrying out undercover activities, both in Rome and in the provinces.
We have evidence of collaboration between the Frumentarii and the Cohors Praetoriae or Praetorians, in police and security operations in Rome.
By the third century, Roman authors noted the pervasiveness and excessive censorship of the secret police forces, likening them to an authoritative force or an occupational army.
Political espionage was not limited to the more contentious parts of the Roman periphery, but also practiced in Rome itself, by rival factions of the government.
Some ministries even employed saboteurs.
Concern about government rivalries, necessitated the creation of the agentes in rebus, the first exclusive counterintelligence force.
Alongside the frumentarii, who operated in disguise,
Exploratores,moved in groups, joining the legionary troops and monitoring enemy territory.
They were in charge of external security; for the internal security, there were also the Speculatores ,who operated silent and cunningly.
Each legion had a detachment of ten Speculatores, to serve as spies and secret police. The Statores were the regular military police.
From the reign of Commodus (AD 180-193) onwards, the emperors were in the habit of creating new units of bodyguards, for their own safety.
The only source to mention the existence of the spies maintained by the Roman state
is Procopius: “And the matter of the spies is as follows….
Many men from ancient times were maintained by the State, who would go into enemy’s country and get into the Palace of the Persians, either on the pretext of selling something or by some other device, and after making a thorough investigation of everything, they returned to the land of the Romans, where they were able to report all the secrets of the enemy, to the magistrates.
From the third century, the spies in question are likely to have included also the Protectores Domestici.
The late Roman bodyguard units, the Protectores Domestici and Scholae both had their origins in the third century.
During the third century, the bodyguard units were commanded by one to three praetorian prefects.
This made the praetorian prefects the most powerful persons right after the emperor and was the reason for the division of the office and also for the posting of the Legio II Parthica close to Rome, at Alba by Septimius Severus (AD 193-211) in about 202.3
The Beneficiarii were specialized soldiers who served under military commanders and governors and had administrative and logistical tasks.
At times, even diplomats and courtiers were sent off to foreign courts to spy on enemy kings or rival emperors.
Internal Security
The creation of the Principate, meant the loss of freedom of speech for the Roman aristocrats and regular population.
The opinions and actions of the people and in particular of the upper classes were
controlled through a variety of means:
- secret agents, police forces/firemen (Vigiles)
- military forces (Urbaniciani) operated by the Urban Prefect;
- censorship of the literary works and other works of art
- private informers (delatores) who were encouraged to come forth with rewards
- soldiers or bodyguards disguised as civilians
- religious institutions which were apparently controlled personally by the emperor through his office as Pontifex Maximus.
With the reign of Domitian (a.d. 81-96), or possibly Hadrian (117-138), came another innovation which added more manpower to this intelligence network.
It was with Diocletian ,the figure of the secret agent was institutionalized with the birth of the agentes in rebus, which were formed and were considered to all effects a militia; they were distinguished in various professionalities, mainly in equités, circitores, biarchi, centenarii, ducenarii and they monitored the entire Roman province, as a control superior to the local governors, for this reason they were very feared, depending on their relations, their career or life itself , depended on them.
Given the vital importance of their work they were very much taken into account, by the emperors on duty, so much so that at the end of their mandate, if carried out impeccably, they were “graduated” cum promotion, to hold important government positions.
As seniors they were promoted to officii princeps of the Praetorian prefectures, where they exercised their control action on the bureaucracy, enjoying both civil and criminal judicial immunity; some were appointed inspectors (curious), performing their function above the provinces.
Cases in which the great power concentrated in their hands, were translated into illicit conduct, were not rare; the Roman philosopher Libario, openly accused them of “gross conduct” as the emperor’s controllers turned into extortionists, assuming attitudes which terrified the administrators of the provinces, who had no power against them, by any law.
In the social climb of the frumentarii, one reads and understands the decline of Rome; they were involved in the supply of wheat, faithful servants of an ideal and of the Emperor.
Some centuries later, they occupied important offices of government, acting as oppressors and extortionists of the provinces, and fomented the hatred of those who suffered their abuses.
It is the beginning of the end, of Rome -fidelity has been replaced by egoism, hatred has been substituted for the subjects; as is both in ancient and modern history, as everything is repeated equally, in changing contexts.
Frumentarii were housed in the Castra Peregrina/Peregrinorum (Camp of the Foreigners or Strangers) on the Caelian Hill. in the city of Rome.
The Castra Peregrina, received its name from the Peregrini, but it is not known who these mysterious men were.
The usual guess is that the Peregrini consisted of all of those soldiers, who had been detached to Rome from their mother units, so they consisted of the Frumentarii, Speculatores (housed in the same camp), and of any other detached soldiers, but it is also possible that there existed a separate group of Peregrini, who served as a sort of secret service.
It is probable the Peregrini formed a mysterious group of Roman spies, who operated in foreign lands disguised as traders, but it is even more likely that the Peregrini included also actual foreigners, who served as spies in their own countries under their Roman handlers (the Speculatores).
There is no doubt, the best agents were always those who were native to their own lands and who spied against their own countrymen – they were the traitors, who served the Romans.
It was and is very difficult for a foreigner to pass as a native, hence the need to recruit foreigners and hence the name, Peregrini.
The detested frumentarii were abolished by Diocletian, but were soon replaced by ‘agents in rebus’ perhaps purposely ill-defined, who likewise served as couriers between the court (comitatus)
It was the ability of the spies to penetrate the palaces, that caused the Romans and Persians to use disinformation and secrecy to hide their plans.
The regular intelligence gathering operations along the frontiers were controlled by the local governors and their staffs, but there were occasions when the imperial government sent its own operatives, to obtain additional information, as was custom with the Medes, as well.
To conclude, the Frumentarii, Beneficiarii, Speculatores and Exploratores were heavily involved in the violent persecutions of Christians and were most probably the ones who carried out assassinations and tortures.
Chosroes, as they say, increased the salaries of his spies and profited by this forethought. For it is said, nothing [that was happening among the Romans
escaped] him.
[Justinian, on the other hand, by refusing to spend anything at all on them] blotted out
from the land of the Romans [even the very] name of spies …”