Centurion

What is a 'centurion'?

Commander of a hundred men.

Original Word ekatontarxh
Transliterated Word Hekatontarches
1. an officer in the Roman army

Original Word kenturiwn
Transliterated Word Kenturion
1. centurion, an officer in the Roman army

CENTURION As the name implies, hekatontarches or hekatontarchos, kenturion, Latin centurio, was the commander of a hundred men, more or less, in a Roman legion. Matthew and Luke use the Greek word while Mark prefers the Latin form, as he does in the case of other words, seeing that he wrote primarily for Roman readers. The number of centurions in a legion was 60, that being at all epochs the number of centuries, although the number varied in the cohort or speira. The ordinary duties of the centurion were to drill his men, inspect their arms, food and clothing, and to command them in the camp and in the field. Centurions were sometimes employed on detached service the conditions of which in the provinces are somewhat obscure. Men like Cornelius and Julius... They and other centurions mentioned in the Gospels are represented by the sacred writers in a favorable light.

Centurion
[ARMY]
II. ROMAN ARMY.--The Roman army was divided into legions, the number of which varied considerably (from 3000 to 6000), each under six tribuni ("chief captains,") who commanded by turns. The legion was subdivided into ten cohorts ("band,") the cohort into three maniples, and the maniple into two centuries, containing originally 100 men, as the name implies, but subsequently from 50 to 100 men, according to the strength of the legion. There were thus 60 centuries in a legion, each under the command of a centurion. In addition to the legionary cohorts, independent cohorts of volunteers served under the Roman standards. One of these cohorts was named the Italian, as consisting of volunteers from Italy. The headquarters of the Roman forces in Judea were at Caesarea.

"The centurions mentioned in the New Testament are uniformly spoken of in terms of praise, whether in the Gospels or in the Acts. It is interesting to compare this with the statement of Polybius (vi. 24), that the centurions were chosen by merit, and so were men remarkable not so much for their daring courage as for their deliberation, constancy, and strength of mind.", Dr. Maclear's N. T. Hist.