Easton: Executioner
Source: Matthew Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1897) (Executioner) · external_aligned
(Mark 6:27). Instead of the Greek word, Mark here uses a Latin word, speculator, which literally means “a scout,” “a spy,” and at length came to denote one of the armed bodyguard of the emperor. Herod Antipas, in imitation of the emperor, had in attendance on him a company of speculatores. They were sometimes employed as executioners, but this was a mere accident of their office. (See MARK, GOSPEL OF.)
Witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15)
- manuscript_tradition: Original 1897 publication — Thomas Nelson, London
- republication: Project Gutenberg — Easton's Bible Dictionary
- republication: Internet Archive — multiple scans
- republication: CCEL — Easton's Bible Dictionary
- republication: Blue Letter Bible — searchable Easton's