GALLIO, Lucius JUNIUS ANNXUS. The mime assumed by Marcus AnnEeus Novatus from that of Lucius Junius Gallio, the rhetorician, by whom, as a friend of his father, Marcus Annwus Seneca, he had been adopted. He was an older brother of the philosopher Lucius Annmus Seneca, and of the geographer Lucius Anrueus Mein, father of the poet Lucan. It was quite probably through the influence of the former that, in the latter part of the reign of Claudius, Gallio was appointed Proconsul of Achaia, though his Hel lenic culture was not an unlikely factor in the case. The exact date of this appointment is un certain. It not have been earlier than A.D. 44, in which year Achaia was raised to a sena torial province, and may have been as late as 54, the last year of Claudius's rule. If the office was in any way due to his brother's influence it must have been after 49, when Seneca, who had been in exile since 41, was recalled by Agrippina to become the tutor of Nero. We know definitely that Gallio was in office when Paul was at Corinth on his first visit to that city, but the exact date of this visit is debated, and varies between fall 49-spring 51 and fall 53-spring 55. See NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY.
It was during this visit that the Jews, angered evidently by the defection of leading members of the Synagogue to the Apostle's following, brought Paul before the proconsul on the charge that he was acting contrary to the [Roman] law. Gallio
dismissed their case, however, with the statement that he was not minded to be a judge of these matters. And when Sosthenes, probably the lead er of the accusing party, was taken by the [Greek] bystanders, with whom the Jews were generally unpopular, and beaten before the judg ment seat, Gallio refrained from interposing, the narrative stating that he "cared for none of these things" (Acts xviii. 14-17). From this last state ment it has been inferred that Gallio was indif ferent to Christianity. The words of his reply, however, while betraying an ignorance of the dis tinctive features of Christianity, disclose simply the usual attitude of Roman officials to the reli gions of the people of the provinces in accordance with Roman law. Its meaning is that, inas much as the controversy was practically a matter of religious dispute among the Jews, it should be adjudged by themselves, the Roman law taking no cognizance of such things. In accord with this it is clear that the statement referred to had reference merely to Gallio's indifference to the controversy in general and to the beating of Sosthenes in particular as matters of his judicial concern. Consult, besides the usual lives of Paul and commentaries on Acts, Ramsay, Saint Paul the Traveler and Roman Citizen (New York, 1896). See PAUL.