01-11-2013, 07:42 AM
Even though the epigraphical examples are numerous, in Greek sources only Josephus mentions eparchs as leaders of speirae but an interesting number of others link chiliarchs with them.
Josephus of course but also NT (second epistle of Ioannes and Acts of the Apostles), Zonaras and a number of other predominantly religious authors who relate the stories in the NT. However, the most direct account comes from Etymologicum Gordianum which at the "speiros" entry writes :
καὶ σύνταγμα στρατιωτικὸν ἀνδρῶν τριακοσίων· ἡ οὖν σπεῖρα καὶ ὁ χιλίαρχος ὡς ποῦ φησὶν, οὐχὶ πάντας εἶχεν ὁ χιλίαρχος τοῦ οἰκείου τάγματος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τὸ τ μόνους
This translates as "A military unit of 300 men, known as speira and the chiliarch who, as they say, the chiliarch did not command all in the tagma (a term that can mean any unit but usually used as a synonym for legion when used for the time in question) but only the 300.
Unfortunately, the EG was compiled much later (11th c.) but its author has surely drawn from older sources...
Well... these are the sources I found thus far on the matter, I really hope I helped with at least clearing up some of the terminology, especially in the Greek sources and epigraphy, although I fear I may have added to the confusion in the process...
Josephus of course but also NT (second epistle of Ioannes and Acts of the Apostles), Zonaras and a number of other predominantly religious authors who relate the stories in the NT. However, the most direct account comes from Etymologicum Gordianum which at the "speiros" entry writes :
καὶ σύνταγμα στρατιωτικὸν ἀνδρῶν τριακοσίων· ἡ οὖν σπεῖρα καὶ ὁ χιλίαρχος ὡς ποῦ φησὶν, οὐχὶ πάντας εἶχεν ὁ χιλίαρχος τοῦ οἰκείου τάγματος, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τὸ τ μόνους
This translates as "A military unit of 300 men, known as speira and the chiliarch who, as they say, the chiliarch did not command all in the tagma (a term that can mean any unit but usually used as a synonym for legion when used for the time in question) but only the 300.
Unfortunately, the EG was compiled much later (11th c.) but its author has surely drawn from older sources...
Well... these are the sources I found thus far on the matter, I really hope I helped with at least clearing up some of the terminology, especially in the Greek sources and epigraphy, although I fear I may have added to the confusion in the process...
