The Emperor's Letter Naming Gallio

In 52 CE, the Roman emperor Claudius wrote a letter that named a friend of his, Gallio. Its fragments were found early in the twentieth century at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece. The sources I have don't name who found them.

Scripture: But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,

Acts places Paul in Corinth, teaching for a year and six months. Then comes a moment before a Roman official called Gallio, described with the title proconsul. That is a Roman governor's office, held by a named man.

Here is the date to hold onto. The letter was written in 52 CE, and it names Lucius Junius Gallio as proconsul.

Claudius says he has long been well-disposed toward Delphi and guarded the cult of Pythian Apollo. But the city, he says, is short of citizens, as Gallio reported to him.

Scripture: These are the words that matter for our story, in the reconstructed English text. A proconsul simply means a governor appointed by Rome to oversee a province.

A caution. This is a rebuilt text. The square brackets in published versions mark gaps filled in by scholars, so some wording is restoration, not clear reading.

Why does it matter? The passage names a proconsul Gallio, and this letter names the same man with the same title. The sources call it an important marker for building a chronology of Paul's life.

So the link is indirect. The letter confirms Gallio as a real Roman official in this role, and gives a date to measure from. It says nothing about Paul or the trial, and how to fit it into his timeline is left to scholars.

One photograph is labelled Gallio Inscription, Delphi Archaeological Museum, 2010. That points to where it is kept today, though the sources I have don't say more about its display.

A name on stone, in a letter about something else entirely, and it meets a name in Acts. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. Follow Bible Evidence for more from the ground beneath the Bible.