COHORT cō’ hôrt (σπεῖρα, G5061, company, band). KJV “band.” In the RSV alternately “battalion” (Matt 27:27; Mark 15:16) and “band” (John 18:3, 12). Nominally the tenth part of a Rom. legion, or 600 men.

The traditional Rom. legion of 6,000 men was divided into ten cohorts. Each of these was divided for administrative purposes into three maniples and six centuries. In the minor provinces, e.g., Judea, Rom. troops were usually recruited locally and assigned to auxiliary cohorts which were posted alone in frontier forts and in places of unrest. The auxiliary cohort numbered from 500 to 1,000 men and was composed of infantry and cavalry. They were commanded by prefects or tribunes. Χιλίαρχος (commander of 1,000) is tr. in the KJV as “captain” or “chief captain” and in the RSV “tribune.”

The Italian Cohort (Acts 10:1), of which Cornelius was a centurion, commander of 100, was prob. composed of Rom. citizens. It has been identified with the cohors II Italica which is known to have been in Syria in a.d. 88 (CIL XVI. 35).

In the NT the cohort often functioned as garrison troops and as local military police (Matt 27:27; John 18:3).