Who Are These Guys

Soldiers From All Over

Roman soldiers didn’t all come from Rome — or even from Italy. By the first century AD, Rome ran everything from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to Syria, and its army pulled men from across that whole empire.

The soldiers in Judaea were the piece of that army keeping the province under Roman control.

A hinged pair of inscribed bronze plates, a Roman military discharge diploma. — A bronze military diploma issued in Judaea in AD 90. It records a soldier who enlisted in an auxiliary unit 25 years earlier and, on discharge, was granted Roman citizenship. Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: אור פ (Or P) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

What Were They Doing There?

Not fighting a battle every morning. They guarded important places, patrolled roads, escorted officials and prisoners, carried messages, and kept order. They could be called out when trouble broke, but most of military life was routine.

That changed with the Jewish Revolt, which began in AD 66. Rome poured major forces into the region, and the war ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Were They Legionaries?

Some were, especially once full legions moved in for the big campaigns. But the everyday garrison was mostly auxiliary troops.

Auxiliaries were soldiers recruited from the provinces rather than from Roman citizens, who traditionally filled the legions. They served as infantry or cavalry and worked, trained, guarded, and fought alongside everyone else. To the people of Judaea, the difference probably mattered less than one fact: these men stood for Rome.

Where Did They Come From?

Lots of places. Some units were raised in the region itself, others came from elsewhere in the eastern empire, and whole units could be transferred from province to province.

So the Roman army was surprisingly mixed. Two soldiers standing side by side might have been born hundreds of miles apart and grown up speaking different languages.

Our Roman Soldiers

At Bethlehem Revisited we just call ourselves Roman soldiers. We’re not recreating one identified unit posted to Judaea in one specific year.

Our clothing and gear are based on what’s known about the first-century Roman army in general. That lets us show visitors something more useful than a unit number: what it might have felt like to meet soldiers serving Rome in Judaea, close to 2,000 years ago.