Junius Annaeus Gallio
Junius Annaeus Gallio (originally Lucius Annaeus Novatus), son of the rhetorician Seneca the Elder and the elder brother of Seneca the Younger, was born at Corduba (Cordova) about the beginning of the Christian era.
At Rome he was adopted by Lucius Junius Gallio, a rhetorician of some repute, from whom he took the name of Junius Gallio. His brother Seneca, who dedicated to him the treatises De Ira and De Vita Beata, speaks of the charm of his disposition, also alluded to by the poet Statius (Silvae, ii.7, 32). It is probable that he was banished to Corsica with his brother, and that both returned together to Rome when Agrippina selected Seneca to be tutor to Nero. Towards the close of the reign of Claudius, Gallio was proconsul of the newly constituted senatorial province of Achaea, but seems to have been compelled by ill-health to resign the post within a few years. During his tenure of office, according to the Bible, he dismissed the charge brought by the Jews against the apostle Paul (Acts 18). His behaviour on this occasion ("but Gallio cared for none of these things", v. 17) shows the impartial attitude of the Roman officials towards Christianity in its early days. He survived his brother Seneca, but was subsequently put to death by order of Nero (in 65) or committed suicide.
Gallio's tenure can be fairly accurately dated to between 51-52 AD or 52-53 AD.[1] The events of Acts 18 can therefore be dated to this period. This is significant because it is the most accurately known date in the life of Paul.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gallio at Bible Study
- Paul's Trial Before Gallio A summary of the historical evidence.
- The Gallio Inscription Greek text and English translation.
[edit] References
- ^ "An Introduction to the Bible", John Drane, (Lion, 1990), p.634-635
- ^ Pauline Chronology: His Life and Missionary Work, from Catholic Resources by Felix Just, S.J.
- Ancient sources: Tacitus, Annals, xv.73; Dio Cassius, lx.35, lxii.25.
- Sir W. M. Ramsay, St Paul the Traveller, pp. 257–261
- Cowan, H.. "Gallio". in James Hastings. A Dictionary of the Bible. II. pp. pages 105–106. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hastings/dictv2/Page_105.html.
- An interesting reconstruction is given by Anatole France in Sur la pierre blanche.
- F. L. Lucas's story “The Hydra (A.D. 53)” in The Woman Clothed with the Sun, and other stories (Cassell, London, 1937; Simon & Schuster, N.Y., 1938) focuses on Gallio at the time of Paul's trial. "A Greek trader, a chance acquaintance of Judas Iscariot, comes to tell the Roman Governor of Corinth 'the real truth about this religious quarrel among the Jews', but is dissuaded by the tolerant old man from taking risks for Truth" (Time and Tide, August 14, 1937).
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press.
