Lucius Sergius Paulus or Paullus was a

Proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

under

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

(1st century AD). He appears in

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

13:6-12, where in

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, accompanied by

Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

and

John Mark John Mark is named in the Acts of the Apostles as an assistant accompanying Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys. Traditionally he is regarded as identical with Mark the Evangelist, the traditional writer of the Gospel of Mark. Bibli ...

, overcame the attempts of Bar-Jesus ( Elymas) "to turn the proconsul away from the faith" and converted Sergius to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. A

boundary stone A boundary marker, border marker, boundary stone, or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in direction of a boundary. There are several other t ...

mentioning Sergius was discovered at Rome in 1887."Sergius Paulus,
''Easton's Bible Dictionary''
It records the appointment (AD 47) of the

Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

s of the banks and the channel of the river

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

, one of whom was Sergius. Since Paul's journey to Cyprus is usually dated to the first half of the 40s (and some scholars date his visit even earlier), it is thought Sergius may have first served three years as Proconsul at Cyprus, then returned to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he was appointed curator. Another inscription was discovered in 1887 at Soli, Cyprus, by Luigi Palma di Cesnola which mentions a proconsul Paulus. This inscription was dated to the middle of the first century by D.G. Hogarth.

Terence Mitford Terence Bruce Mitford FBA FSA (sometimes known as Terence Bruce-Mitford) (11 May 1905 – 8 November 1978) was a Scottish archaeologist and classicist. He spent his whole career at the University of St Andrews, and had a special interest in th ...

noted that based on epigraphic grounds the inscription cannot be dated earlier than this and is probably considerably later. As he is not greeted in Paul's

Epistle to the Romans The Epistle to the Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament, and the longest of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of J ...

, it is possible he died before it was written. Writing in the fourth century, Jerome speculated that Saul of Tarsus had been renamed Paul (''Paulus'') because he had converted Sergius Paulus to Christianity: "For as Scipio assumed the name of Africanus for himself when Africa was subjugated...so also Saulus, who was sent to preach to the nations, brought back from the initial spoils of the church, the proconsul Sergius Paulus, the trophy of his victory, and he raised a standard so that he was called Paulus." Some medieval legends have anachronistically identified Sergius Paulus with

Paul of Narbonne Saint Paul of Narbonne (3rd century AD) was one of the "apostles to the Gauls" sent out (probably under the direction of Pope Fabian, 236–250) during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250-251 AD) to Christianize Gaul after the persecutions ...

. Sergius Paulus may have been the first of several successive senators named Lucius Sergius Paullus, of

Antioch, Pisidia Antioch in Pisidia – alternatively Antiochia in Pisidia or Pisidian Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Πισιδίας) and in Roman Empire, Latin: ''Antiochia Caesareia'' or ''Antiochia Colonia Caesarea'' – was a city in th ...

, including one who was consul suffectus c. 70, and another who was twice consul, Lucius Sergius Paullus, the father of Sergia Paulla, who married

Quintus Anicius Faustus Quintus Anicius Faustus (fl. late 2nd century – early 3rd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed suffect consul in AD 198. Biography Born either in Uzappa in the province of Numidia, or in Praeneste in Ita ...

Legate Legate may refer to: *Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

in 198, and had

Quintus Anicius Faustus Paulinus Quintus Anicius Faustus Paulinus (or possibly Sextus Anicius Faustus Paulinus) (fl. 3rd century AD) was a Roman military officer and senator who was appointed suffect consul sometime before AD 230. Biography Probably the son of Quintus Anicius Fa ...

, governor of Moesia Inferior between 229 and 232.

Anthony Wagner Sir Anthony Richard Wagner (6 September 1908 – 5 May 1995) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He served as Garter Principal King of Arms before retiring to the post of Clarenceux King of Arms. He was one of ...

, ''Pedigree and Progress, Essays in the Genealogical Interpretation of History'', London, Philmore, 1975. Rutgers Alex CS4.W33., p. 59

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergius Paulus Ancient Roman proconsuls Roman governors of Cyprus People in Acts of the Apostles 1st-century Romans Paulus