Reference: Lysias, Claudius
Easton
the chief captain (chiliarch) who commanded the Roman troops in Jerusalem, and sent Paul under guard to the procurator Felix at Caesarea (Ac 21:31-38; 22:24-30). His letter to his superior officer is an interesting specimen of Roman military correspondence (Ac 23:26-30). He obtained his Roman citizenship by purchase, and was therefore probably a Greek. (See Claudius.)
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Now while they were trying to kill him, word came to the commandant of the regular Roman garrison that the whole of Jerusalem was in a state of ferment. So immediately he took soldiers and centurions and hurried down among them; and when the people saw the commandant and the troops, they stopped beating Paul. read more. Then the commandant approached and arrested Paul and ordered that he be secured with two chains. He then inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd kept shouting back one thing and others something else, and since he could not ascertain the facts because of the furor, he ordered that Paul be removed to the barracks. And when [Paul] came to mount the steps, he was actually being carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob; For the mass of the people kept following them, shouting, Away with him! [Kill him!] Just as Paul was about to be taken into the barracks, he asked the commandant, May I say something to you? And the man replied, Can you speak Greek? Are you not then [as I supposed] the Egyptian who not long ago stirred up a rebellion and led those 4,000 men who were cutthroats out into the wilderness (desert)?
The commandant ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks, and that he be examined by scourging in order that [the commandant] might learn why the people cried out thus against him. But when they had stretched him out with the thongs (leather straps), Paul asked the centurion who was standing by, Is it legal for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned [without a trial]? read more. When the centurion heard that, he went to the commandant and said to him, What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen! So the commandant came and said to [Paul], Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, Yes [indeed]! The commandant replied, I purchased this citizenship [as a capital investment] for a big price. Paul said, But I was born [Roman]! Instantly those who were about to examine and flog him withdrew from him; and the commandant also was frightened, for he realized that [Paul] was a Roman citizen and he had put him in chains. But the next day, desiring to know the real cause for which the Jews accused him, he unbound him and ordered the chief priests and all the council (Sanhedrin) to assemble; and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.
Claudius Lysias sends greetings to His Excellency Felix the governor. This man was seized [as prisoner] by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, because I learned that he is a Roman citizen. read more. And wishing to know the exact accusation which they were making against him, I brought him down before their council (Sanhedrin), [Where] I found that he was charged in regard to questions of their own law, but he was accused of nothing that would call for death or [even] for imprisonment. [However] when it was pointed out to me that there would be a conspiracy against the man, I sent him to you immediately, directing his accusers also to present before you their charge against him.
Hastings
A chiliarch of a cohort in Jerusalem who rescued St. Paul from the Jews in the Temple and took him to the 'Castle,'