Roman military presence in Judea

[LonginusXXI]

This is similar to a topic that has come up repeatedly on the board, concerning Roman troops in Judea in the Biblical period generally.

Coponius, like all the early Prefects, was of equestrian rank and therefore unable (it seems) to command legionary troops. Any soldiers he had with him would have been auxiliaries. It appears most likely from the limited evidence available that the early Roman administration 'inherited' the army of Herod, mostly Samarian troops, and reorganised them as several new cohorts perhaps under Roman officers. More details in this post, and supporting quotes a couple of posts down the thread.

A little later several more regular auxiliary cohorts were moved from Syria into the province. You can find more about them in these threads:

Garrison of Jerusalem AD30

Legion near Jerusalem at time of Jesus

Legions in Jerusalem under Pilate

The upshot of all this is that, aside from an expedition into Galilee in 5-4BC involving the legions from Syria, there were probably no legionary troops stationed in Judea prior to AD44-48 and/or the Jewish wars of the AD60s.

There is mention of the Italian Cohort, a citizen cohort apparently attached to the Tenth Legion, so that could count.