4686. speira
Strong's Concordance
speira: anything wound up or coiled, by ext. a body (of soldiers), i.e. a cohort
Original Word: σπεῖρα, ης, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: speira
Phonetic Spelling: (spi'-rah)
Short Definition: a cohort
Definition: a cohort, the tenth part of a legion; a military guard.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 4686: σπεῖρα

σπεῖρα (on the accent cf. Buttmann, 11; Chandler § 161; Tdf. Proleg., p. 102), , genitive σπείρης (Acts 10:1; Acts 21:31; Acts 27:1; see (Tdf. Proleg., p. 117; WH's Appendix, p. 156; and) μάχαιρα, at the beginning) (cognate with σπυρίς (which see));

a. Latinspira; anything rolled into a circle or ball, anything wound, rolled up, folded together.

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 (John 18:12; Acts 21:31), together with the uniform rendering of the word by cohors in the Latin versions, warrants the margin cohort uniformly added in R. V. to the rendering band): Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16; Acts 10:1; Acts 21:31; Acts 27:1, and often in Josephus; a maniple, or the thirtieth part of a legion, often so in Polybius ((see above)); any band, company, or detachment, of soldiers (2 Macc. 8:23; Judith 14:11): John 18:3, 12.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
cohort

Of immediate Latin origin, but ultimately a derivative of haireomai in the sense of its cognate heilisso; a coil (spira, "spire"), i.e. (figuratively) a mass of men (a Roman military cohort; also (by analogy) a squad of Levitical janitors) -- band.

see GREEK heilisso

see GREEK haireomai

Forms and Transliterations
σπειρα σπείρα σπεῖρα σπειραν σπείραν σπεῖραν σπειρης σπείρης speira speîra speiran speîran speires speirēs speíres speírēs
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Englishman's Concordance
Strong's Greek 4686
7 Occurrences


σπεῖρα — 1 Occ.
σπεῖραν — 3 Occ.
σπείρης — 3 Occ.

Matthew 27:27 N-AFS
GRK: ὅλην τὴν σπεῖραν
NAS: the whole [Roman] cohort around
KJV: him the whole band [of soldiers].
INT: all the battalion

Mark 15:16 N-AFS
GRK: ὅλην τὴν σπεῖραν
NAS: the whole [Roman] cohort.
KJV: they call together the whole band.
INT: all the battalion

John 18:3 N-AFS
GRK: λαβὼν τὴν σπεῖραν καὶ ἐκ
NAS: having received the [Roman] cohort and officers
KJV: having received a band [of men] and
INT: having procured the band and [some] from

John 18:12 N-NFS
GRK: Ἡ οὖν σπεῖρα καὶ ὁ
NAS: So the [Roman] cohort and the commander
KJV: Then the band and the captain
INT: then [the] band and the

Acts 10:1 N-GFS
GRK: ἑκατοντάρχης ἐκ σπείρης τῆς καλουμένης
NAS: of what was called the Italian cohort,
KJV: of the band called
INT: a centurion of a cohort which is called

Acts 21:31 N-GFS
GRK: χιλιάρχῳ τῆς σπείρης ὅτι ὅλη
NAS: up to the commander of the [Roman] cohort that all
KJV: unto the chief captain of the band, that
INT: chief captain of the band that all

Acts 27:1 N-GFS
GRK: ὀνόματι Ἰουλίῳ σπείρης Σεβαστῆς
NAS: of the Augustan cohort named
KJV: a centurion of Augustus' band.
INT: by name Julius of the cohort of Augustus

7 Occurrences

4685
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