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ITALIAN BAND*, ITALIAN COHORT*, ITALIAN REGIMENT
Roman military unit to which the centurion Cornelius belonged. The single biblical reference to a regiment (nasb “cohort”; KJB “ band”) is in Acts 10:1.
The Roman army included auxiliary regiments, most of which seem to have comprised provincial subjects apart from Jews (who were exempted). Such units were sometimes referred to by distinctive names like “Italian” or “Augustan” (Imperial) (Acts 27:1). The Italian Regiment was evidently composed mainly of those who not only were Roman citizens but had been born in Rome. The regiments were made up of six centuries of 100 men, each century commanded by a centurion (in this instance, Cornelius). Ten regiments constituted a legion (6,000 men).
Inscriptions indicate that such an Italian regiment had indeed been stationed in Syria during AD 69–157. This does not rule out an earlier presence in the province; military records are simply not available.