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Bible Dictionaries
Augustan Band
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or During his voyage from Caesarea to Italy, St. Paul was in the charge of the centurion Julius, of the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή, or ‘Augustan cohort’ (Acts 27:1 Revised Version margin). Two widely different views prevail as to the composition of this body of soldiers.
1. The theory of Schürer (History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] i. ii. 51f.) is mainly based on data supplied by Josephus. While legionary soldiers, who were Roman citizens, were sent only to provinces of the first order, governed by legati, those of the second order, administered by procurators-e.g. Judaea -were garrisoned by auxiliary cohorts of provincials, each from 500 to 1000 strong, usually attended by an ala of cavalry, and each named after the city from which it was recruited, e.g. ‘cohors Sebastenorum.’ At the time of the death of Herod Agrippa (a.d. 44) there was an ala of Καισαρεῖς and Σεβαστηνοί with five cohorts stationed in Caesarea (Jos. Ant. xix. ix. 1f.). For their indecent demonstrations of joy at the king’s death, they were at first threatened with banishment, but were ultimately forgiven and taken over by the Romans. They are frequently referred to during the period a.d. 44-66 (Ant. xx. vi. 1 || Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) ii. xii. 5; Ant. xx. viii. 7 || Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) ii. xiii. 7). In a.d. 67, Vespasian finally drafted from Caesarea into his army five cohorts and one ala of cavalry (Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) iii. iv. 2). Schürer holds that the ‘Augustan cohort’ is undoubtedly one of these five cohorts. He does not, however, regard σπεῖρα Σεβαστή as synonymous with σπεῖρα Σεβαστηνῶν. Σεβαστή is rather a title of honour, equivalent to Augusta, and the full name of the cohort in question would probably be cohors Augusta Sebastenorum (History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] i. ii. 53).
2. Mommsen, followed by Ramsay, attempts to connect the σπεῖρα Σεβαστή with a body of officers detached from the foreign legions and known as frumentarii, who were employed under the Empire not only, as their name indicates, in connexion with the commissariat, but as agents maintaining communications between the central government and the distant provinces. As they were constantly passing backwards and forwards, it was natural that prisoners should be entrusted to them, and in time they became hated as police-agents and spies. When Julius (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ), who on this theory was one of these couriers, arrived in Rome, he handed over his charge (Acts 28:16, Authorized Version and Revised Version margin) to the στρατοπεδάρχης, which is commonly translated ‘captain of the Praetorian Guard.’ Mommsen, however, thinks that the prœfectus praetorio cannot have had laid upon him the humble duty of receiving prisoners, and prefers another interpretation based upon the term princeps peregrinorum, which appears in an Old Lat. version (called Gigas) as the equivalent of στρατοπεδάρχης. Peregrini, ‘soldiers from abroad,’ was the name given to the frumentarii while they resided at Rome, and their camp on the Caelian Hill was called Castra Peregrinorum. It is suggested (1) that Luke, who as a Greek was careless of Roman forms and names, used the Greek term σπεῖρα Σεβαστή not as the translation of an official Roman designation, but as ‘a popular colloquial way of describing the corps of officer-couriers’ (Ramsay, St. Paul3, London, 1897, p. 315); and (2) that his στρατοπεδάρχης is an equally unofficial title, for which the Latin translator, being more at home in Roman usages than Luke, was able to supply the correct technical term. It is admitted that ‘this whole branch of the service in very obscure. Marquardt considers that it was first organized by Hadrian; but Mommsen believes that it must have been instituted by Augustus’ (ib. 349). The chief objection to the present theory is that the foundation seems too slender for the superstructure. There is no clear evidence that the title princeps peregrinorum came into use before the time of Septimius Severus (193-211). On the other hand, St. Paul’s case would seem to be on all fours with that of an appellant mentioned in the correspondence of Trajan and Pliny (Ep.57), regarding whom the Emperor gives this rescript: ‘vinctus mitti ad praefectos praetorii mei debet.’
Literature.-On the one side, Th. Mommsen, Sitzungsberichte d. Berl. Akad., 1895, p. 495f.; W. M. Ramsay, loc. cit. supra; F. Rendall, Acts, London, 1897, p. 340. On the other side, Schürer, loc. cit.; Th. Zahn, Introd. to NT, Eng. translation , Edinburgh, 1909, i. 60, 551ff.; A. C. Headlam, article ‘Julius’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ; P. W. Schmiedel in Encyclopaedia Biblica i. 909.
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Augustan Band'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/a/augustan-band.html. 1906-1918.
