Who Were the Roman Soldiers at the Crucifixion?
The Gospels describe Roman soldiers carrying out the scourging, mockery, crucifixion, and guard duties. These were most likely auxiliary troops under Pilate's command, since no regular Roman legions were stationed in Judaea during this period. The auxiliaries were recruited from the region but often served away from their own homes. For example, Samaritan auxiliaries might have served in Judaea. The long running hatred between Judaeans and Samaritans (hence the shock and offence caused Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan) merely added to the daily problems of the Roman-born officers (like Maximus in the novel) who commanded Pilate’s troops in the province.
A centurion is specifically mentioned overseeing the execution, consistent with the standard Roman practice of a small unit handling such duties. None of these soldiers are named or independently attested outside the Gospel accounts, so their likely role and composition are inferred from general knowledge of Roman military practice in the province rather than from any specific record of this unit. That the auxiliary soldiers stationed in Judaea were typically recruited locally or regionally, notably from Caesarea and Sebaste, is a detail sometimes lost in popular imagination. It is well established though by broader evidence about the province's garrison composition.
Pilate certainly had several centurions within the cohort of troops deployed in Jerusalem for a festival as significant as Passover. In the first Maximus novel Maximus is portrayed as the centurion on duty in Jerusalem that day. As such he would have been the commander overseeing and responsible for all military actions that day. Within that task he would have been responsible for the crucifixion, not least ensuring (to avoid unnecessary religious offence to the locals) that the condemned were dead and cut down from their crosses by the time the sabbath began at sunset on that Friday.
The novel avoids the traditions about a centurion's reported statement acknowledging Jesus at his death, which are present in some form in all three Synoptic Gospels. These passages are theologically significant for the gospel writers, but the novel leaves open the possibility that Maximus was not necessarily that centurion. Like the soldiers' other individual actions, the identity and traditional words of that centurion are not independently corroborated.
Enjoyed this article? John writes regularly about the historical world behind the Maximus novels.