σπεῖρα: Difference between revisions

|txtha=(on the [[accent]] cf. Buttmann, 11; Chandler § 161; Tdf. Proleg., p. 102), ἡ, genitive σπείρης (Tdf. Proleg., p. 117; WH's Appendix, p. 156; and) [[μάχαιρα]], at the [[beginning]]) ([[cognate]] [[with]] [[σπυρίς]] ([[which]] [[see]]));<br /><b class="num">a.</b> Latin spira; [[anything]] rolled [[into]] a [[circle]] or [[ball]], [[anything]] [[wound]], rolled up, [[folded]] [[together]].<br /><b class="num">b.</b> a [[military]] [[cohort]] ([[Polybius]] 11,23, 1 [[τρεῖς]] σπείρας. [[τοῦτο]] δέ καλεῖται τό [[σύνταγμα]] [[τῶν]] πεζῶν [[παρά]] Ῥωμαίοις κωρτις), i. e. the [[tenth]] [[part]] of a [[legion]] (i. e. [[about]] 600 men (i. e. legionaries), or if auxilialies [[either]] 500 or 1,000; cf. Marquardt, Römisch. Alterth. III. ii., p. 371. But [[surely]] [[τοῦτο]] τό [[σύνταγμα]] in the [[quotation]] comprehends the [[τρεῖς]] [[σπεῖρα]]; [[hence]], [[Polybius]] [[here]] makes a [[σπεῖρα]] [[equal]] to a maniple, cf. 2,3, 2; 6,24, 5; cf. Zonaras, Lex., p. 1664, [[σπεῖρα]] [[σύνταγμα]] διακοσίων [[ἀνδρῶν]]. On the [[other]] [[hand]], "the [[later]] Greek writings [[almost]] [[uniformly]] [[employ]] [[σπεῖρα]] as the [[representative]] of cohors" (Smith, Dict. of Antiq., edition 2, [[under]] the [[word]] exercitus, p. 500); and the [[rise]] of [[χιλίαρχος]] ([[which]] [[was]] the equivalent of tribunus, the [[commander]] of a [[cohort]]) in [[connection]] [[with]] it ([[cohort]] [[uniformly]] added in R. V. to the [[rendering]] [[band]]): Josephus; a maniple, or the [[thirtieth]] [[part]] of a [[legion]], [[often]] so in [[Polybius]] ([[see]] [[above]])); [[any]] [[band]], [[company]], or [[detachment]], of soldiers (John 18:3,12.