by the_classicist 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
At a lecture at my university given by Lawrence Keppie, he said that at the time of Jesus, there were no Roman soldiers in Jerusalem or Palestine, instead they were locals employed by the Romans. The Romans didn't come until 66 AD.
Just thought that it was interesting and that little piece shows how our common perceptions, which were believed and still are believed, can easily be wrong (i.e., The Passion).
Did he give a basis for this statement (such as Josephus, Roman sources, etc. )? It is always good to check the original sources...
Unfortunately, I wasn't listening too carefully, but I think he said it was from Roman records, as he is an 'expert' in Roman military history.
Did he make a distinction between having a permanent garrison of soldiers and having temporary, sporadic visits of soldiers in Jerusalem during times of unrest or Passover -- which was the time of greatest influx of Jews to the city? I think it would have made sense to beef up security by having non-Jews (unlikely to be sympathetic to rebels and Zealots) in the city to maintain law and order.
From what I've read Caesarea did have a native Roman presence, and at least according to Josephus (Antiquities, 20.8.7) there were Roman soldiers there. It is conceivable that some soldiers from Caesarea were temporarily stationed in Jerusalem for Passover week, tho of course there is no evidence of this outside the gospels.
Another temporary residence of soldiers in Jerusalem before AD 66 would be of General Varus "leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep the Jews quiet" (Antiquities, 17.10.1) around 4 BC, tho that was during one specific campaign.
Well the lecture was on the Roman Legions from the "Rhine to the Rubicon," and this stuff was just a side note.
My guess is that, yes, these were temporary and not permenant. Although, I don't think the Gospels refer to the soldiers working for Pilate as specifically Roman anyways. I also think it would be reasonable for Pilate to have Roman bodyguards (I'm not too familiar on the Roman Empire in Jerusalem, though).
Here's an interesting paper:
http://josephus.yorku.ca/Roth%20Jewish%20Forces.pdf
The "Italica Cohort" in Cesarea (Acts 10) is generally recognised as a Lukan anachronism (Josephus mentions one in 69).
