Overview
A letter of the emperor Claudius to Delphi (or, on another reading, to Gallio's successor), cut on limestone and set up at the sanctuary of Apollo. It survives as a set of fragments; Plassart's 1970 edition (Fouilles de Delphes III.4, no. 286) combines nine of them, and Oliver (Hesperia 1971) printed a revised text.
The prescript gives Claudius' titles including his 26th acclamation as imperator. The body refers to what 'L. Junius Gallio, my friend and proconsul' reported, and, on Plassart's reading of line 5, concerns Delphi's depopulation: Claudius wants new, well-born settlers invited to keep up the city.
Gallio is the Roman governor before whom the Jews of Corinth brought Paul (Acts 18:12-17). Because Achaia's proconsuls normally served one year, the letter's date pins Gallio's term to 51/52 or 52/53 and gives the one external fixed point in the chronology of Paul's Corinthian stay.
What the text says (summary)
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ... acclaimed imperator for the 26th time, father of the fatherland ... as Lucius Junius Gallio, my friend and proconsul [of Achaia, wrote] ...Literal translation (this encyclopedia) of the Greek of lines 1-2 and 5-6 as printed by A. Deissmann, St. Paul (Eng. tr. 1912), Appendix I p. 246 (names, 'my friend' and 'proconsul' partly restored; 'of Achaia' wholly restored)
What the evidence shows
- The numeral 26 for Claudius' imperial acclamations is legible; Deissmann calls it 'above all doubt' (1912, p. 248).
- Gallio's name survives as Γαλλίων with [Ἰού]νιος partly restored; φ[ίλος] and [ἀνθύπ]ατος are partly restored; the province name 'Achaia' is a restoration.
- The addressee's name in the prescript is lost.
- Four 'old' fragments (Delphi 3883, 2178, 2271, 4001) plus further fragments; Plassart's 1970 edition uses nine.
- Letter height 18-20 mm; limestone from the local Hagios Elias quarries.
- Seneca, Ep. Mor. 104.1: Gallio, taking a fever in Achaia, took ship at once, saying the illness was of the place, not the body (quoted in a footnote by Deissmann 1912, App. I).
Open questions
- Who received the letter: A. Plassart (FD III.4, 1970) divides line 17 so it contains a second-person singular pronoun and concludes the recipient was an individual, probably Gallio's successor as proconsul. J. H. Oliver (Hesperia 40, 1971, 239-240) rejects this because the letters can be the end of a verb and because Gallio is still called proconsul in the text; he reads the recipient as a community, Delphi or the Amphictyonic Council.
- Imperial titles in line 1: Deissmann (1912) restored 'pontifex maximus' (ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος), making a 71-letter line; Plassart (1970) omitted it; Oliver (1971) accepts the omission, citing a Claudian letter from Miletus (Milet III no. 156) that also lacks the title.
- Start of Gallio's year: Deissmann (1912, pp. 252-255) argues proconsuls took office in early summer and puts Gallio's entry around mid-summer 51, giving Paul's arrival at Corinth in early 50; this rests on the one-year-term rule and the acclamation range, not on a date stated in the inscription. If the letter was written after Gallio's successor arrived (Plassart's reading), the term shifts; the inscription alone does not decide between 51/52 and 52/53.
- Whether the 'new' fragments belong to the same letter: Pomtow (in Deissmann 1912, p. 243) held they were cut by the same mason but belonged to another rescript, on line spacing and letter height; Deissmann left it open; Plassart (1970) included them.
Sources
- A. Plassart, Fouilles de Delphes III: Épigraphie, fasc. 4, Inscriptions de la terrasse du temple et de la région nord du sanctuaire, nos. 276 à 350 (Paris 1970), no. 286 link editio princeps
- James H. Oliver, 'The Epistle of Claudius which Mentions the Proconsul Junius Gallio', Hesperia 40:2 (1971) 239-240 link study
- Adolf Deissmann, St. Paul: A Study in Social and Religious History, tr. L. R. M. Strachan (London/New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1912), Appendix I 'The Proconsulate of L. Junius Gallio', pp. 235-260 link translation
- É. Bourguet, De rebus Delphicis imperatoriae aetatis capita duo (Montpellier 1905), pp. 63 f. link editio princeps
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry quotes the text as 'Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, built this'. The inscription is a letter of Claudius, not a building dedication; nothing in it says Gallio built anything, and 'of Achaia' is restored.
- Old entry: 'discovered in 1905'. 1905 is Bourguet's first publication; the fragments were found earlier in the French excavations at Delphi, and further fragments were identified after 1905 (Deissmann 1912; Plassart 1970).
- Old entry: 'stone stele ... approximately 50 cm tall'. It is a set of limestone fragments from a wall inscription; the only measurements located are letter height 18-20 mm and an estimated line length of c. 1.40 m (Deissmann 1912). No source gives 50 cm.
- Old entry: 'Date: c. 50 CE'. The acclamation numeral dates the letter to 52 CE (before 1 August 52).
- Old entry: Biblical Connections lists 'Romans 16:23 (Gallio mentioned)'. Romans 16:23 names Erastus, Gaius and Quartus; Gallio is named only in Acts 18:12-17.
- Old entry: 'Dates Paul's ministry accurately' / 'Confirms dating'. The stone dates Gallio's term to within about a year; Paul's dates come from combining it with Acts 18 and the one-year-term rule.
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