Acts 10:1

"Now there was. certain man in Caesarea, Cornelius by name,. centurion of the band called the Italian band"Caesarea" "A garrison city named after Augustus Caesar, the administrative capital of the province of Judea, boasting. splendid harbor built by Herod the Great" (Stott pp. 184-185). "Caesarea was the usual residence for the Roman governor of Judea and consequently. garrison of troops was regularly found there" (Reese p. 379). The city was predominately. city occupied by Gentiles, housed some 3000 troops, and was located some 30 miles. of Joppa and 65 miles from Jerusalem. "Cornelius" "Cornelius was. specially common name in Rome ever since Publius Cornelius Sulla in 82 B.C. liberated 10,000 slaves" (Bruce p. 214). "Centurion" "In the Roman military set-up there was first of all the legion. It was. force of six thousand men. In every legion there were ten cohorts.. cohort therefore had six hundred men in it. The cohort was divided into centuries and over each century there was. centurion" (Barclay p. 82). Thus. centurion was over 100 men. "So. centurion corresponded approx. to. captain or company commander in our day" (Stott p. 185). "Centurions were the backbone of the Roman army. Polybuis (History vi. 24) sums up their necessary qualifications thus: 'Centurions are required not to be bold and adventurous so much as good leaders, of steady and prudent mind, not prone to take the offensive or start fighting wantonly, but able when overwhelmed and hard-pressed to stand fast and die at their post'" (Bruce p. 215). We need to be impressed with the precise detail found in the biblical text. Cornelius is placed where we would expect to find him, that is in the garrison town of Caesarea. "The Italian Cohort" "A regular cohort, the tenth part of. legion, had. paper strength of 600 men. We have inscriptional evidence of the presence in Syria c. A.D. 69 of the auxiliary, 'second Italian cohort of Roman citizens'" (Bruce p. 215). "Italian" "Probably because consisting of Roman soldiers, and not of natives of the country" (Vincent p. 496). "The whole cohort was made up. soldiers from Italy (some cohorts were composed of soldiers born and conscripted in the provinces). This cohort was one of the best Rome had; and, since the soldiers were all Italians whose loyalty was above question, perhaps they were the governor's bodyguard" (Reese p. 379).