Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus or Gallio ( el, Γαλλιων, ''Galliōn''; c. 5 BC – c. AD 65) was a

Roman senator The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

and brother of the famous writer

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

. He is best known for dismissing an accusation brought against Paul the Apostle in

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

Life

Gallio (originally named Lucius Annaeus Novatus), the son of the rhetorician Seneca the Elder and the elder brother of

Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca was born in ...

, was born in Corduba (Cordova) c. 5 BC. He was adopted by Lucius Junius Gallio, a

rhetorician Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

of some repute, from whom he took the name of Junius Gallio. His brother Seneca, who dedicated to him the treatises ''

De Ira ''De Ira'' (''On Anger'') is a Latin work by Seneca (4 BC–65 AD). The work defines and explains anger within the context of Stoic philosophy, and offers therapeutic advice on how to prevent and control anger. Sources Seneca's main sources were ...

'' and ''

De Vita Beata ''De Vita Beata'' ("On the Happy Life") is a dialogue written by Seneca the Younger around the year 58 AD. It was intended for his older brother Gallio, to whom Seneca also dedicated his dialogue entitled ''De Ira'' ("On Anger"). It is divided i ...

'', speaks of the charm of his disposition, also alluded to by the poet

Statius Publius Papinius Statius ( Greek: Πόπλιος Παπίνιος Στάτιος; ; ) was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the ''Thebaid''; a collection of occasional poetry, ...

(''

Silvae The is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose prefa ...

'', ii.7, 32). It is probable that he was banished to Corsica with his brother, and that they returned together to Rome when Agrippina selected Seneca to be tutor to

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

. Towards the close of the reign of Claudius, Gallio was

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 ...

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. He was referred to by Claudius as "my friend and proconsul" in the

Delphi Inscription The Delphi Inscription, or Gallio Inscription ( IG, VII, 1676; SIGII, 801d, is the name given to the collection of nine fragments of a letter written by the Roman emperor Claudius c. 52 CE which was discovered early in the 20th century at the Te ...

, around 52. Gallio was a suffect or replacement consul in the mid-50s, and

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

records that he introduced Nero's performances. Not long after the death of his brother, Seneca, Gallio (according to Tacitus, ''Ann.'' 15.73) was attacked in the Senate by Salienus Clemens, who accused him of being a "

parricide Parricide refers to the deliberate killing of one’s own father and mother, spouse (husband or wife), children, and/or close relative. However, the term is sometimes used more generally to refer to the intentional killing of a near relative. It ...

and

public enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

", though the Senate unanimously appealed to Salienus not to profit "from public misfortunes to satisfy a private animosity". He did not survive this reprieve long. When his second brother, Annaeus Mela, opened his veins after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy (Tacitus, ''Ann.'' 16.17), Gallio seems to have committed suicide, perhaps under instruction in 65 AD.

Gallio and Paul the Apostle

According to the

Acts of the Apostles 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 messag ...

, when Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, Paul the Apostle was brought in front of him by Sosthenes, head of the local synagogue, with the accusation of having violated Mosaic Law. Gallio, however, was indifferent towards religious disputes between the

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Jewish Christians Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus a ...

; therefore, he dismissed the charges against Paul (''denegatio actionis'') and had both him and the Jews removed from the Court ( Acts 18:12-17). Gallio's tenure can be fairly accurately dated to between AD 51–52. Therefore, the events of

Acts 18 Acts 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the final part of the second missionary journey of Paul, together with Silas and Timothy, and the beginning of the third miss ...

can be dated to this period. This is significant because it is the most accurately known date in the life of Paul.Pauline Chronology: His Life and Missionary Work
fro
Catholic Resources
by Felix Just, S.J.

References

Resources

* Ancient sources:

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

, ''Annals'', xv.73; Dio Cassius, lx.35, lxii.25. * Bruce Winter, "Rehabilitating Gallio and his Judgement in Acts 18:14-15", ''Tyndale Bulletin'' 57.2 (2006) 291–308. * Sir

W. M. Ramsay Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, FBA (15 March 185120 April 1939) was a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar. By his death in 1939 he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in t ...

, ''St Paul the Traveller'', pp. 257–261 * * An interesting reconstruction is given by

Anatole France (; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...

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). *

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

'
''Gallio's Song''

External links

A summary of the historical evidence.

Greek text and English translation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Gallio Annaeanus, Lucius 5 BC births 65 deaths 1st-century Romans Ancient Roman adoptees Ancient Romans who committed suicide Annaei Gallio, Annaeus, Lucius People in Acts of the Apostles Roman governors of Achaia Romans from Hispania Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome

Life

Gallio and Paul the Apostle

See also

References

Resources

External links