Who were the Roman soldiers in Judaea in the early first century AD? The Easter story features probably the most famous appearance of Roman soldiers in the popular consciousness with the assumption - not least from Hollywood - that these were Roman legionaries. In fact, the evidence makes clear that they were not from the legions. These were auxiliaries, the non citizen soldiers, and many were locally recruited.

THis is a look at the Roman province of Judaea, at governors like the Prefect Pontius Pilate, and the soldiers of the garrison. Along the way, we look at the Sebasteni from Samaria, The Italian cohort and teh Augustan cohort.

The title comes from an old nickname for the First Foot, the Royal Scots, the oldest regiment of the line in the British Army - and now part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. They had existed for so long, that they were later nicknamed Pontius Pilate's bodyguard. Today we are looking at the men who actually were in Judaea in the Roman period before the great rebellion against Nero in AD 66.

For those interested in reading more, the first place to look is:-

M. Speidel, 'The Roman army in Judaea under the Procurators,' in M. Speidel, Roman Army Studies. Vol. 2, Mavors, (1992), pp. 224-232

Also of relevance and for the case that the Sebasteni were primarily Samaritans, see:-
S. Mason, 'Why did Judaeans go to war with Rome in 66-67 CE? Realist-Regional perspectives', in P. Tomson & J. Schwartz (eds.), Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries: How to write their history (2014), pp. 126-206 and also the same author's 'The Jewish War AD 66-74' (2016).

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