03-03-2008, 10:06 PM
As M. Demetrius points out, the word used in the original Greek text is spekoulátôr. I remember to have read (for example in Le Bohec) that the equites speculatores of the Praetorian Cohorts were also a bodyguard for the Emperor, so a speculator could rightly also be translated as a bodyguard.
Another interesting point that I found in a commentary to Mark's gospel (but I do not know how strongly based in primary sources) is that the use of the word spekoulátôr would suggest that Antipas' army was modeled on the Roman example and used Latin titles. So, the executioner of John the Baptist would be a bodyguard of Antipas rather than a Roman officer
Another interesting point that I found in a commentary to Mark's gospel (but I do not know how strongly based in primary sources) is that the use of the word spekoulátôr would suggest that Antipas' army was modeled on the Roman example and used Latin titles. So, the executioner of John the Baptist would be a bodyguard of Antipas rather than a Roman officer
Gabriel
