Band

Band. The "band of Roman soldiers" referred to in Mat 27:27, and elsewhere, was the tenth part of a legion. It was called a "cohort," and numbered 400 to 600 men. See Army.

the representative of several Hebrews and Gr. words, and in the N.T. especially of σπεῖρα, a COHORT SEE COHORT (q- v.).

Band

a part of clerical dress, said to be a relic of the ancient amice (q.v.). It belongs to the full dress of the bar and university in England. “In Scotland it distinguishes ordained ministers from licentiates or probationers, and is said to be a remnant of the old cravat worn universally by the clergy a hundred years ago.” — (Eadie.) It is worn in the Church of England, in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and by the Protestant ministers of the Continental churches of Europe generally. SEE CLERGY, Dress of the.

Band

(figuratively used). Government and laws are bands that restrain from sin and draw into the path of righteousness (Psa 2:3; Jer 5:5). Slavery, distress, fears, and perplexity are called bands because they restrain liberty, and create irritation (Lev 26:13; Eze 34:27; Psalm 28:22). Sinful customs or meretricious allurements are bands; they enslave, weaken, degrade, and embitter the soul; they are fetters that at first may seem soft as silk, but are found at last to be stronger than iron (Isa 58:6; Ecc 7:26). The wicked often “have no bands in their death;” that is, they frequently die without any peculiar distress, fear, or perplexity, such as might be expected to stamp their real character and condition on the verge of their future woe (Psa 73:4; Ecc 7:15; Ecc 9:2). Faith and love are bands which unite and fasten every believer to Christ, and to the whole body of his holy people (Col 2:19). The authority, arguments, instances, and influence of divine love, because they draw and engage us to follow the Lord in a way suited to our rational nature, are generally supposed to be intended in Hos 11:4 by “the bands of a man.”

Band

in architecture, is a flat face or fascia, a square moulding, or a continuous tablet or series of ornaments, etc., encircling a building or continued along a wall. Bands of panelling on the outer surface of the wall are very usual in rich work of the Perpendicular style, especially on the lower part of a tower, and” sometimes higher up between the stories also, as in the rich Somersetshire towers, and in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, and, indeed, wherever rich churches of this style are found. This kind of ornament is, however, used in the earlier styles also, though less frequently. See also a good illustration from Yelvertoft Church under SEE PERPENDICULAR STYLE.

Band is also a name for the moulding or suite of mouldings which encircles the pillars and small shafts in Gothic architecture, the use of which was most prevalent in the Early English style. Bands of this description are not unfrequently met with in very late Norman work, but they show that it is verging towards the succeeding style; they are also occasionally to be found in early Decorated work. When the shafts are long they are often encircled by several bands at equal distances apart between the cap and base. SEE TABLET.

Band. A band of Roman soldiers consisted of the tenth part of a legion, called a "cohort;" it varied, according to the size of the legion, from 400 to 600 soldiers. Mat 27:27; Act 21:31, and elsewhere.

BAND.—A Roman legion, the full strength of which was about 6000 men, was divided into ten cohorts (600), and each cohort into three maniples (200). Greek writers use the word σπεῖρα, rendered ‘band’ in our versions, sometimes for maniple but usually for cohort; hence (Revised Version margin) has regularly ‘cohort.’ The troops in Judaea, however, as in other provinces governed by a procurator, consisted simply of auxiliaries, not Roman citizens, but provincials; these were not formed into legions, but merely into cohorts, of strength varying from 500 to 1000, sometimes consisting purely of infantry, sometimes including cavalry also. The forces in Palestine seem to have been originally Herod’s troops, taken over by the Romans; they were recruited in the Greek cities in or around the country, such as Caesarea, Ascalon, Sebaste. One such cohort formed the garrison of Jerusalem, stationed in the fortress of Antonia, adjoining the Temple, under a chiliarch or tribune (‘the chief captain of the band,’ Act 21:31). From the account of the force at the disposal of Lysias (Act 23:23), his cohort must have been a cohors miliaria equestris, consisting of 760 infantry and 240 cavalry; but this may not have been the case in our Lord’s time, some 30 years earlier. This Roman force was probably granted by Pilate to effect our Lord’s arrest (Joh 18:3; Joh 18:12, where ‘the band’ under its ‘chief captain’ [ Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ] seems distinguished from ‘the officers of the Jews,’ i.e. the Temple police; see Westcott, ad loc.). Of course, only a portion of the whole cohort would be needed. In Mat 27:27 || Mar 15:16, the soldiers gather together ‘the whole band’ to mock our Lord; obviously all who were at hand and not on duty.

Literature.—Grimm-Thayer, s.v. στεῖρα; Schürer, HJ^{P [Note: JP History of the Jewish People.]} i. ii. 49–56; Marquardt, Romische Staatsverwaltung (1884), ii. 468 ff., 534 ff.

Harold Smith.

BAND.—This spelling represents three historically distinct English words: (1) ‘Band’ in the sense of that which binds—the rendering of a variety of Heb. words, some of which are also rendered by ‘bond.’ (2) ‘Band’ in the sense of ribbon (Exo 39:23 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘binding’), or sash (Exo 28:8 etc. RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘girdle’). (3) ‘Band’ in the sense of a company of soldiers, more or less organized, as the rendering of several Heb. words, some of there ranged in RV [Note: Revised Version.] into ‘companies’ (Gen 32:7) or ‘troop’ (1Ki 11:24) or ‘hordes’ (Eze 38:6; Eze 38:9).

In NT ‘band’ in this third sense renders speira, the Gr. equivalent of the Roman cohors (for the Roman army in NT times see Legion). In the minor provinces such as Judæa the troops were entirely auxiliaries, of which the unit was the cohort of about 500, in certain cases 1000, men. The Roman garrison in Jerusalem consisted of such a cohort of provincials, probably 1000 strong, the ‘band’ which figures prominently both in the Gospels and in the Acts (Mat 27:27, Mar 15:16, Act 21:31, and probably Joh 18:3; Joh 18:12—RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘cohort’ throughout). This cohort was under the command of a Roman prefect or of a military tribune, the ‘captain’ or ‘chief captain’ (Gr. chiliarch) of our EV [Note: English Version.] .

Another auxiliary cohort is probably that named the Augustan band (Act 27:1—Gr. Sebaste; AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘Augustus’ band’). It has been much debated whether the name is a title of honour like our ‘King’s Own,’ or a territorial designation signifying that the cohort in question was recruited from Samaria, then named Sebaste (= Augusta). Schürer (GJ V³ i. 462) curiously would combine both these views. Ramsay, on the other hand, maintains that the Augustan band was a popular, not an official, name for a body of troops detailed for some special service by the emperor (St. Paul the Traveller, p. 315). A similar uncertainty as to its place in the military organization of the time attaches to the Italian band in which Cornelius was a centurion (Act 10:1). The name merely shows that it was a cohort of Roman citizens, probably volunteers, from Italy, as opposed to the ordinary cohorts of provincials.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

The English word has two generic meanings, each shading off into several specific meanings: (1) that which holds together, binds or encircles: a bond; (2) a company of men. The second sense may philologically and logically have been derived from the first, men being held together by social ties. Both meanings appear in Old Testament and New Testament representing various Hebrew and Greek words.

(1) A band (a) (אסוּר, ’ēc̣ūr): a flaxen rope (Jdg 15:14); a band of iron and brass (Dan 4:15, Dan 4:23); metaphorically used of a false woman’s hands (Ecc 7:26). (b) (חבל, ḥebhel): “The bands of the wicked have robbed me” (the King James Version of Psa 119:61), where “bands” = “troops” by mistr; the Revised Version (British and American) “The cords of the wicked have wrapped me round”; plural ḥobhlim = “bands” = the name of the prophet’s symbolic staff representing the brotherhood between Judah and Israel (Zec 11:7, Zec 11:14). (c) (עבת, ‛ăbhōth): “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love” (Hos 11:4; compare Eze 3:25; Eze 4:8; Job 39:10). (d) (שפה, sāphāh): the edge of the round opening in the robe of the ephod with a band (the Revised Version (British and American) “binding”) round about the hole of it (only in Exo 39:23). (e) (חרצבּות, ḥarcǔbbōth): bands (the Revised Version (British and American) “bonds”) of wickedness (Isa 58:6); bands (= pains) in death (Psa 73:4); the Revised Version, margin (“pangs,” Cheyne, “torments”). (f) (מוטה, mōṭāh): the cross bar of oxen’s yoke, holding them together (Lev 26:13; Eze 34:27 the King James Version; the Revised Version (British and American) “bars”). (g) (מוסר, mōṣēr): a fetter: “Who hath loosed the bonds of the swift ass?” (Job 39:5; Psa 2:3; Psa 107:14; Isa 28:22; Isa 52:2; Jer 2:20; all in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)). The same Hebrew word (in Psa 116:16; Jer 5:5; Jer 27:2; Jer 30:8; Nah 1:13) is translated “bonds” in the King James Version, and in the English Revised Version of Psa 116:16, and Nah 1:13, but “bands” in the English Revised Version of Jer 5:5; Jer 27:2; Jer 30:8; the American Standard Revised Version has “bonds” throughout. See BOND. (h) (מושׁכות, mōsh^ekhōth): “Canst thou ... loose the bands of Orion?” (only in Job 38:31). (i) (δεσμός, desmós, σύνδεσμος, súndesmos): a fetter: that which binds together: of the chains of a lunatic or prisoner (Luk 8:29; Act 16:26; Act 22:30 the King James Version), metaphorically of the mystic union of Christ and the church (Col 2:19). These words are often translated by “bond” in the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American). (j) (ζευκτηρία, zeuktērı́a): the rudder’s bands (only in Act 27:40).

(2) A company of men (a) (גּדוּד, g^edhūdh): a band of soldiers (2Sa 4:2; 1Ki 11:24, the King James Version; 2Ki 6:23; 2Ki 13:20, 2Ki 13:21; 2Ki 24:2; 1Ch 7:4; 1Ch 12:18, 1Ch 12:21; 2Ch 22:1). So the Revised Version (British and American) (except in 1Ki 11:24, “troop”). (b) (ראש, rō’sh): “head” = “division”: “The Chaldeans made three bands” (Job 1:17); 1Ch 12:23 the Revised Version (British and American) translates “heads.” (c) (חיל, ḥayil): “a band of men” the Revised Version (British and American) the “host” (only in 1Sa 10:26). (d) (אגפים, ’ăghappı̄m): “the wings of an army,” only in Ezekiel, armies of the King of Judah (Eze 12:14; Eze 17:21); of Gomer and of Togarmah (Eze 38:6); of Gog (the Revised Version (British and American) “hordes”) (Eze 38:9, Eze 38:22; Eze 39:4). (e) (מחנה, maḥăneh): “camp”: only in Gen 32:7, Gen 32:10; the Revised Version (British and American) “companies.” (f) (חצץ, ḥocec): of locusts dividing into companies or swarms (Pro 30:27). (g) (σπεῖρα, speı́ra): usually a “cohort” (see the Revised Version, margin) of Roman soldiers; the tenth part of a legion, about 600 men: (Mat 27:27; Mar 15:16; Act 10:1; Act 21:31; Act 27:1). A smaller detachment of soldiers (Joh 18:3, Joh 18:12; compare 2 Macc 8:23; Judith 1:4:11). (h) (ποιεῖν συστροφήν, poieı́n sustrophḗn): “to make a conspiracy”: “The Jews banded together” (Act 23:12).

(3) The Augustan Band (σπεῖρα Σεβαστή, speı́ra Sebastḗ) to which Julius, the Roman centurion who had charge of Paul as a prisoner on his voyage to Rome, belonged, was a cohort apparently stationed at Caesarea at the time (Act 27:1). Schürer (GJV, I^3, 461 f) is of opinion that it was one of five cohorts mentioned by Josephus, recruited in Samaria and called Sebastenes from the Greek name of the city of Samaria (Sebaste). This particular cohort had in all likelihood for its full name Cohors Augusta Sebastenorum, Augusta being an honorific title of which examples are found in the case of auxiliary troops. Sir William Ramsay, following Mommsen (St. Paul the Traveler, 315, 348), thinks it denotes a body of legionary centurions, selected from legions serving abroad, who were employed by the emperor on confidential business between the provinces and Rome, the title Augustan being conferred upon them as a mark of favor and distinction. The grounds on which the views of Mommsen and Ramsay rest are questioned by Professor Zahn (Introduction to the New Testament, I, 551ff), and more evidence is needed to establish them. See ARMY, ROMAN.

(4) The Italian Band (σπεῖρα ἰταλική, speı́ra Italikḗ) was a cohort composed of volunteer Roman citizens born in Italy and stationed at Caesarea at this time (Act 10:1). Schürer maintains that there could have been no Roman cohort there at this time, although he accepts the testimony of inscriptions to the presence of an Italian cohort at a later time. He accordingly rejects the story of Cornelius, holding that the author of the Acts has given in this narrative conditions belonging to a later time (GJV, I³, 462 f). In reply to Schürer, Blass asks why one of the five cohorts mentioned by Josephus may not have been composed of Roman citizens living at Caesarea or Sebaste, and bearing this name (Blass, Acta Apostolorum, 124). From a recently discovered inscription, Sir W. M. Ramsay has ascertained that there was an Italian cohort stationed in Syria in 69 ad, which heightens the probability of one actually being found in Caesarea at 41-44 ad, and he shows that even if his cohort was at the time on duty elsewhere a centurion like Cornelius might well have been at Caesarea at the time mentioned (Expositor, 5th series, IV, V, with Schürer’s rejoinder). The subject of detached service in the provinces of the Roman Empire is admittedly obscure, but nothing emerges in this discussion to cast doubt upon the historical character of Luke’s narrative. See ARMY, ROMAN.

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(óðåῖñá, always ‘cohort’ in Revised Version margin)

As a province of the second rank, governed by procurators, Judaea was not garrisoned by legionaries, who were Roman citizens, but by auxiliaries, who were levied from subject races. Each cohort, varying from 500 to 1000 infantry, usually strengthened by an ala of cavalry, was named after the Greek city from which it was recruited-‘cohors Sebastenorum, Ascalonitarum,’ etc. The Jews themselves were exempted from military service. Various data supplied by Josephus (see the references in Schürer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] i. ii. 51f.) indicate that the Judaea n forces were originally the troops of Herod the Great, which were taken over by the Romans after the deposition of Archelaus in a.d. 6. At ordinary times Jerusalem was garrisoned by one cohort-called by Josephus a ôÜãìá (Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) v. 8)-which was stationed at the tower of Antonia, on the north side of the Temple, under the command of a chiliarch (Act_21:31). Part of this cohort-200 infantry, 70 horsemen, and 200 äåîéïëÜâïé, an obscure term translated ‘spearmen’ (see Schürer, op. cit. 56)-formed St. Paul’s protecting convoy when he was transmitted by Claudius Lysias to the governor Felix in Caesarea.

James Strahan.