Login

01-23-2002, 06:11 PM

One very often hears Legio X Fretensis referred to as the "legion of the Holy Land" at the time of Christ. It is frequently pictured as actually being in garrison at Jerusalem at that time. But, the tenth didn't post to Jerusalem until after the capture of the city by Titus in 71. Before then it was based at Cyrrhus in Syria, on the Euphrates. 
 
But, what actually was the garrison of Jerusalem (and of Judaea, for that matter) some 40 years earlier? When the procurator Florus was driven out at the begining of the Jewish Revolt in 66, the impression I get is that the Roman military presence was little more than a token guard, with the troops of Herod Agrippa comprising the bulk of the garrison. I understand the political and military situation was rather different in the early 30s, but am not 'up' on the history. I do know there was no legion stationed in Judaea before the 70s, though, of course, detachments could have been in service there from any of the nearby legions (X Fretensis included). Were there auxiliary units present? Just what record do we actually have of their composition? 
 
Best, 
 
John

01-23-2002, 10:08 PM

For all intents and purposes an equestrian prefect would have had auxiliary troops at his disposal, not legionaries. That's not to say that, as you have stated, small detachments wouldn't have been placed under his command for this reason, or that. It's certainly feasible that vexillations from legions were all over the place performing any number of functions. A sizeable, permanent legionary garrison based in Jerusalem was not to happen until after the siege and destruction. 
It seems clear that the auxiliary units available to Florus were inadequate when the revolt started in Jerusalem as they were very quickly penned-up in the Antonia fortress by the rebel forces. I'm not even going to talk about Gallus' failed expedition and the loss of the XII Fulmenata. <!-- 
The whole issue of the Xth in Jerusalem prior to the Revolt has been a bone of contention for me and our local X Fretensis group. My problem isn't with some notion that maybe, perhaps, possibly there could've been a detachment of the Xth legion in Jerusalem during the lifetime and death of Christ, my problem is with what is being put out to the public as an immutable fact that this particular cohort from this particular legion was in this particular place at this particular time and were, in fact, involved in this particular event, ie., the execution of Christ. I think it would be much more "safe" to portray auxiliary troops as the Roman soldiers who are involved in the life and death of Christ. 
I have a copy of "The Oxford Companion To The Bible", Bruce Metzger, Michael coogan, 1993 here in front of me, and it's citing the New Testament (Acts 10.1; 27.1) as naming two auxiliary units in the vicinity of Jerusalem, an Italian and an Augustan Cohort. These are compared to the Cohors II Italica Civium Romanorum and the Cohors Augusta I respectively. Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/uthecaesarionsection.showPublicProfile?language=EN>The Caesarion Section</A> at: 1/23/02 11:21:53 pm

01-24-2002, 09:13 AM

Salve, 
 
As far as can be established the garrison in the days of Pilatus consisted of some six auxiliary units. While there may have been legionaries attached to the governor's staff (as attested for other provinces without a permanent legionary formation garrisoned there), the current available (published?) evidence does not allow us to be certain. The presence of individuals seconded to staff functions is more likely than full detachments of integral legionary subunits. 
 
Bodyguard duty was always conspicuously entrusted to a combination of foreign/peregrine units with citizen counterparts to encourage competition and provide safety guards against divided loyalties among either group. Such bodyguards were likely to be mounted troops (legionary equites legionis, singulares, secutores, speculatores, protectores, auxiliary equites singulares) as well as foot guards (legionary lonchophoroi, soomatophylakes and auxiliary pedites singulares). However the use of legionary counterparts to auxiliary guards in provinces without a permanent garrison is not yet securely attested. 
 
Some reading on the army in Judea at this time: 
 
Saddington, D.B., 'Roman military and administrative personnel in the New Testament' in: ANRW II- (1996), 2409-2435. 
Speidel, M.P., 'The army in Judea under the procurators' in: Ancient Society 13/14 (1983), 233-240. 
 
Regards, 
 
Sander van Dorst

derek forrest · 01-30-2002, 09:27 PM

There is an excellent article in Military illustrated no 120 by Graham Sumner of the ESG detailing the garrison and with some useful pictures of undress auxilliaries

02-15-2002, 06:56 PM

Actually, I have some questions about the army and this garrison. I am in a play depicting the crucifixion, and I am looking for informatin as to the mindset of the soldiers at this time. I have seen and studied some who say that this was a job, and there would be no hostility toward the jews, thus portrying the soldiers in a very matter of fact, business-like manner. ( no over emotions, and much like a modern police officer would be in carrying out his normal duties). Others portray the army as "above it all" people who took every opportunity to opress the jews. This would be portrayed by constant pushings and shovings, and especially as overly abusive in the crucifixion scene. I have researched the methodology of the crucifixion itself, and am aware of the intense and physical torture that the victim was put through. What I guess I am looking for is an idea of what the attitudes would have been like in every day meetings with the jewish people and how the soldiers would actually handle the crucifixion of their criminals. Any leads will be greatly appreciated.

Matthew Amt · 02-16-2002, 04:46 AM

Ave! 
Well, like so many subjects, there was probably a LOT of variation! Josephus recounts a huge riot starting because an auxiliary standing on duty on the portico roof above the Temple plaza turned around and mooned the crowd. Other troops seemed to be very happy to get orders to suppress riots, etc. Remember, this whole region is still very tribal and volatile today, back then it was perfectly normal to have civilian Greeks, Jews, Samaritans, Gallileans, etc. rioting against each other. Take the more aggressive members of your unemployed lower classes and give them weapons, and I think we can write off any sweetness and light... 
 
My take on crucifiction duty is that the soldiers who got assigned to it were the ones who flunked out of latrine duty. They didn't want to be there any more than the slobs getting tacked up. (Well, maybe just a tad more!) Sure, you'd have the ocassional trooper who was thinking, "Poor blighter", but he can hardly pound the nails in more gently. 
 
Official Roman policy was tolerance, yes, but getting that to trickle down to the guys in the ranks was probably a constant struggle, if the governor cared to try at all. Sounds pretty oppressive to me! 
 
Vale, 
Matthew/Quintus

rusty myers · 02-24-2002, 09:47 PM

Which Legion or Auxiliary did the deed on Christ? We don't know. 
 
I found the fictional book "The Spear" by Louis De Wohl a fascinating read that covered a lot (it is not perfect in Roman Army stuff, but is more Biblically attuned). 
 
My own take was that Pilatus may have assigned a higher ranking centurion to this crucifixion duty, to prevent problems and rioting (like a Police Chief at a Klan Rally). Pilatus had a vested interest in preventing further problems in Judea at this time (Ole Tiberius did not really like revolting provinces) wether that centruion was a legionary or auxiliary, I doubt we will ever be able to confirm. When we do our dramas, we do them Roman. 
 
I suspect even if the soldiers were auxiliaries, there would have been bad blood since the Jews were exempt from military service. If Syrian Auxiliaries were taking care of business... Well they STILL hate each other. 
 
Check out our performance scripts for some more detailed info on my own thoughts. <h5>Rusty Myers 
RKA Justus Rustius Longinus 
Optio, Cohort X,
<a href= http://Legvi.tripod.com >Legio VI Ferrata Fidelas Constans 
<a href=http://www.legionarmory.com>Legion Armory

02-27-2002, 11:23 PM

Back to the original comments: 
This is something that I've wondered about in the past, and more recently have been trying to pinpoint. In fact, I found this discussion group through a websearch for "Judea +garrison." 
I wonder if there is anyone here who can confirm for certain that the X Fretensis was in Syria post-AD 6, (when Judea was annexed as an Imperial province) as opposed to in or around Jerusalem. I know that the records proir to that indicate a presence in Syria, but some time prior to that, if I am not mistaken, Judea was considered part of the Roman province of Syria. 
The usual arguement is that there was no place for an entire legion to be stationed in or around Jerusalem, but this assumes a rather small size for the Antonia fortress. Disregarding the current popular conceptions concerning the Antonia, is there any hard evidence that X Fretensis was not in Jerusalem? Or is the placement further north an arguement from silence? 
The reason I ask about the X Fretensis specifically is mainly because of timing. AD 66 is the year that the Jewish revolt broke out. It also happens to be the year that the X Fretensis was removed from the Judeo-Syrian area and sent by Nero, along with the V Macedonia, to Alexandria for his planned campaign against the Ethiopians (as attested by H.M.D. Parker in his book "The Roman Legions"). Is this merely coincindence? Or was the beginning of the Jewish War in part because of a sudden withdrawal of military control? It has been suggested in this discussion that perhaps only a part of the X Fretensis was garrisoned in Judea. Perhaps that is it. But if there is no evidence to the contrary, I am inclined to think that perhaps the main body of the legion was stationed in or about Jerusalem 
It seems that the city would require more that a couple cohorts to keep the Pax Romana, so to speak, especially during feast days. 
As someone who is looking into this, I would appreciate any comments. And if anyone wants to discuss the Antonia or the Temple, maybe we can open another topic, eh? :c) 
 
~Chris

Matthew Amt · 02-28-2002, 12:28 AM

Ave! 
As I understand it, the problem with these theories is not only that there is no evidence (my favorite word!) of a legion being in Judea prior to 66, but in fact there is good reason to believe that there was NOT a legion there. Primarily, Judea was an equestrian province, so it was governed by an equestrian (knight), who would have been outranked by the legatus of any legion (i.e., a senator). We know Pilate was subordinate to the governor of Syria. That's about as close as you can get to proving a negative (unless you dig up a carving saying "Legio X Fret did NOT sleep here", hee hee!). 
 
As to the timing of the rebellion, I'd have to let someone with more info take that one (Sander?). But I expect the Jewish leaders were fully aware of which units were where, and that the nearest heavy force was in Syria. They could very well have known that a war somewhere else was a good opportunity for their own party. 
 
We have to be very careful about figuring out the "best" ways to do things--time and again we find out that the ancients didn't think like us (even considering the benefit of our hindsight!). If Judea had been such a chronic hotspot that the few auxiliary cohorts couldn't handle it, it would have been changed to a senatorial province and assigned a legion (as happened once the war was concluded). 
 
Vale, 
Matthew/Quintus

02-28-2002, 02:07 AM

Hmmmm. I shall have to look into that. I see your point though about equestrian vs senatorial class. 
But I would still maintain that it required more than a couple cohorts to control the city of Jerusalem. The account of Acts 23:23 details the escort of Paul to Caesarea as an entire cohort. Surely there must have been many more garrisoned at the Antonia for the "chief captain" to spare c.500 men. 
Two centuria infantry, seventy cohors equitatae, and two-hundred spearmen. This is the escort of a single citizen! 
The greek word used for "chief captain" is "Chiliarchos," the same word used for the Roman tribunus militum. It seems the Antonia garrison must truly have been a force to be reckoned with, whatever it was composed of. Much more than a mere couple cohorts. 
 
~Chris

**richsc** · 02-28-2002, 03:04 AM

I am no Greek scholar, but understand that translations of the Bible from Greek to English can muddle some terms. Is there a Greek word for 'cohort' or 'auxiliary' that is used? I was wondering if there was a shift in meaning. Richard Campbell, Legio XX.
the HIGH NOISE/low signal person for RAT.
ICQ 940236

***Praefectusclassis*** · 02-28-2002, 06:31 AM

According to Tacitus (Ann. II.57), there's a Tenth legion in Cyrrhus in 18 CE ("Cyrrhi demum apuid hiberna decumae legionis convenere") 'Finally, at the winter quarters of the tenth legion, they met.' As legio X Gemina is in Spain at that time, this must be Fretensis. 
Dabrowa, 'Legio X Fretensis', in Le Bohec, Les Legions de Rome sosu le Haut-Empire (Lyon 2000), p.319, adds that the legion was shortly thereafter moved to Zeugma on the Euphrates. There is heated debated over when exactly this was, but 49 CE seems to be most probable. Greets 
 
Jasper

02-28-2002, 10:17 AM

Salve, 
 
The term chiliarchos ('commander of a thousand') is used in Greek as an equivalent of tribunus. It does not specifically mean legionary tribune, but was applied to tribunes of any type. A tribunus could also be placed in command of an auxiliary unit and commanders of units composed of citizens usually carried this title rather than that of praefectus. There seems to have been one such unit in Judea, as the centurion in the Acts belonged to one ( ek speirÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨s tÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨s kaloumenÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨s ItalikÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨s 'from the cohort that was called the Italian one'). 
 
The word used for the units mentioned in the NT is speira or speirÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨, a term commonly used in Greek text to denote a cohort. The added specification as SebastÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨ and ItalikÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨ indicate that these cohorts were auxiliary units, since legionary cohorts were designated by a number and carried no distinguishing titles. The unit mentioned as SebastÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â¨ in the NT is to be identified with a cohors Augusta rather than one of the units of Sebasteni. The latter category were formed by units taken over from the army of Herodes, who at one point had some three thousand Sebasteni in his army according to Josephus. Read the articles mentioned in my prior post for more details. 
 
Stationing a unit with a boar as its emblem in Judea after the suppression of the revolt was surely done to add insult to injury. The Roman authorities however took Jewish religious sensitivities into account prior to the Jewish war, refraining from using the military standards whose presence could cause rioting. This makes the X Fretensis less likely to have been garrisoned there before. 
 
Regards, 
 
Sander van Dorst

Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showLocalUserPublicProfile?login=sandervandorst>Sander van Dorst</A> at: 2/28/02 2:33:09 pm

03-16-2002, 04:02 AM

Greetings, 
Here is a web page that has a lot of info. on Judea. It lists five of the six cohorts of Prefectus Pilate's auxiliaries(NOT LEGIONARIES). There is also good info. on people and event's in this small province as well as the area around it. www.livius.org/judaea.htm 
 
If this link doesn't work, just type "ancient judaea" in the search box of your search engine, go to web pages, click on 
"Articles on first century Judaea", then click on "Judaea". 
 
Hope this helps, 
James West 
www.authentic-campaigner.com

03-16-2002, 04:42 AM

Thanks johnny. Lots of good info on the site you provided including info on some of the messianic claimants of the time, especially Bar Kokhba sources. <a href=http://pub45.ezboard.com/fromanarmytalkfrm6.showMessage?topicID=53.topic>Rules For Posting

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me

Possibly Related Threads…
Thread		Author	Replies	Views	Last Post
	Auxilia stationed in Jerusalem, AD30-AD50	M. Demetrius	15	7,695	03-14-2016, 06:15 PM Last Post: LonginusXXI