Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus

{{Short description|Roman senator (c. 5 BC-c. 65 AD)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus | native_name =  | native_name_lang =  | image_upright = | image =  | alt = | caption = | order = | office = Suffect consul of the Roman Empire | status =  | term_start = 51 | term_end = 52 | alongside = Titus Cutius Ciltus | monarch = | predecessor = Quintus Volusius Saturninu<br> Publius Cornelius Scipio | successor = Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Rufus<br> Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus | prior_term = | birth_name = Lucius Annaeus Novatus | birth_date = {{Circa|5 BC}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Circa|65 AD}} (aged {{Circa|69}}) }} '''Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus''' ({{langx|el|Γαλλιων}}, ''Galliōn''; c. 5 BC – c. AD 65) was a [[Roman senator]] and brother of the writer [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]. He is best known for dismissing an accusation brought against [[Paul the Apostle]] in [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]].

==Life== Gallio (originally named Lucius Annaeus Novatus), the son of the rhetorician [[Seneca the Elder]] and the elder brother of [[Seneca the Younger]], was born in [[Córdoba, Spain|Corduba]] (Cordova) c. 5 BC. 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 they returned together to Rome when [[Agrippina the Younger|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 [[Claudius' expulsion of Jews from Rome|ill-health]] to resign the post within a few years.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Gallio, Junius Annaeus|volume=11|page=419}}</ref> He was referred to by Claudius as "my friend and proconsul" in the [[Delphi Inscription]], around 52.

Gallio was a suffect or replacement consul in the mid-50s,<ref>"L. Junius Annaeus Gallio, was suffect consul in the mid-50s AD, perhaps in 54." Robert C. Knapp, ''Roman Córdoba'' (University of California Press, 1992) {{ISBN|9780520096769}} p.42. "L. Junius Gallio did hold consulship in 55 or 56". Anthony Barrett, ''Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Empire'' (Routledge, 1999) {{ISBN|9780415208673}} p.280. "Gallio reached the consulship, probably in 55". Miriam T. Griffin, ''Nero: The End of a Dynasty'' (Routledge, 1987) {{ISBN|0415214645}} p.78. E. Mary Smallwood, "Consules Suffecti of A.D. 55", in ''Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', Bd. 17, H. 3 (Jul., 1968), p. 384.</ref> and [[Cassius Dio]] records that he introduced Nero's performances.<ref>Miriam T. Griffin, ''Nero: The End of a Dynasty'' (Routledge, 1987) {{ISBN|0415214645}} p.45, relying on Dio 61.20, 2-3.</ref> 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]] and [[public enemy]]", though the Senate unanimously appealed to Salienus not to profit "from public misfortunes to satisfy a private animosity".<ref>Vasily Rudich, ''Political Dissidence Under Nero: The Price of Dissimulation'' (Routledge, 1993) {{ISBN|9780415069519}} p.117. And Steven Rutledge, ''Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian'' (Routledge, 2001) {{ISBN|9780415237000}} p.169.</ref> 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.<ref>Vasily Rudich, ''Political Dissidence Under Nero: The Price of Dissimulation'' (Routledge, 1993) {{ISBN|9780415069519}} p.117.</ref>

===Gallio and Paul the Apostle=== According to the [[Acts of the Apostles]], when Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, [[Paul the Apostle]] was brought in front of him by the [[Jews]] of Corinth with the accusation of having violated [[Law of Moses|Mosaic Law]]. This action was presumably headed by [[Sosthenes]], a ruler of the local synagogue. Gallio, however, was indifferent towards religious disputes between the [[Jews]] and the [[Christians]], so he refused to pass any judgment and had Paul and the Jews removed from the Court. Soon after that, Sosthenes was beaten by a mob, but Gallio did not intervene ([[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Acts#18:12|Acts 18:12-17]]).

Gallio's tenure can be fairly accurately dated to between AD 51–52.<ref>John Drane, "An Introduction to the Bible", Lion, 1990, p. 634-635</ref> Therefore, the events of [[Acts 18]] can be dated to this period. This is significant because it is the most accurately known date in the life of Paul.<ref>[http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Pauline_Chronology.htm Pauline Chronology: His Life and Missionary Work], from [http://catholic-resources.org Catholic Resources] by Felix Just, S.J.</ref>

==See also== * [[Junia (gens)]] *[[List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources]] * [[Delphi Inscription]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==Resources== {{refbegin}} * Ancient sources: [[Tacitus]], ''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 [[William Mitchell Ramsay|W. M. Ramsay]], ''St Paul the Traveller'', pp. 257–261 * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cowan|first=H. |editor=[[James Hastings]] |encyclopedia=[[Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible|A Dictionary of the Bible]] |title=Gallio |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hastings/dictv2/Page_105.html |year= 1899|volume=II |pages=105–106 }} * A 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). * [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s [http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_gallio.htm ''Gallio's Song''] {{refend}}

==External links== * [http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/20020418.htm Gallio at Bible Study] * [http://parsagard.com/gallio&paul.htm Paul's Trial Before Gallio] A summary of the historical evidence. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110518174141/http://kchanson.com/ANCDOCS/greek/gallio.html The Gallio Inscription] Greek text and English translation.

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Quintus Volusius Saturninus]]|before2=[[Publius Cornelius Scipio (consul 56)|Publius Cornelius Scipio]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[List of early imperial Roman consuls|Roman consul]]|years=56 (suffect)|regent1=[[Titus Cutius Ciltus]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Rufus|P. Sulpicius Scribonius Rufus]]|after2=[[Publius Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus|P. Sulpicius Scribonius Proculus]]|as=suffect consuls}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Junius Gallio Annaeanus, Lucius}} [[Category:0s BC births]] [[Category:65 deaths]] [[Category:1st-century Romans]] [[Category:Ancient Roman adoptees]] [[Category:Suicides in ancient Rome]] [[Category:Annaei]] [[Category:Junii|Gallio, Annaeus, Lucius]] [[Category:People in Acts of the Apostles]] [[Category:Roman governors of Achaia]] [[Category:Romans from Hispania]] [[Category:Suffect consuls of Imperial Rome]]