The Apostolic Age · AD 4–70
Sergius Paulus
fl. AD 47 (death unrecorded) · Proconsul of Cyprus · First Roman official recorded as believing · Paphos, Cyprus
The Apostolic Age
Who Sergius Paulus was
**The first Roman official of senatorial rank recorded as coming to faith**, and the archive holds him as a member on the archive’s own criterion: Luke says he believed.
He was proconsul of Cyprus at Paphos, and Luke calls him ἀνὴρ συνετός, a prudent or intelligent man. He **sent for Barnabas and Saul** and desired to hear the word of God — the initiative is his. His own court held a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet, Bar-Jesus, called Elymas, who withstood them and sought to turn the proconsul from the faith; Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, struck him blind for a season. **“Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.”**
**The classification is deliberate and consistent.** Luke’s verb is ἐπίστευσεν, and it is the same verb on which this archive holds Cornelius, the Ethiopian eunuch, Lydia, the Philippian jailer and Dionysius the Areopagite as members. To place a Roman senator elsewhere on the same evidence would be to apply a standard by rank. Luke does not report a baptism, does not mention him again, and does not place him in a congregation — all stated here, and none of it is stated of the others either.
**And this is the episode in which Luke changes the apostle’s name.** Acts 13:9 reads “Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,)” — the first use of the name Paul in Acts, in the presence of a proconsul called Paulus, and from that verse onward Luke never calls him Saul again in narrative. Whether the coincidence is a patron’s name taken in honour, or simply the point at which the mission turns to Gentiles and the Roman name becomes the useful one, **the archive does not decide** — but it records that the change happens here.
## The epigraphy, and where it disagrees
Three inscriptions are brought into the question, and they are of unequal value.
**A boundary stone from Rome, CIL 6.31543**, names **L. Sergius Paulus** as one of the *curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis* — the commissioners of the banks and channel of the Tiber — under Claudius, dated to about **AD 47**, an office concerned with managing the river to prevent flooding. Ben Witherington considers this the most helpful of the three, observing that nothing in it rules out the same man having been proconsul of Cyprus earlier or later, and that **classicists have been readier than New Testament scholars to make the identification**.
**A Greek inscription from Soloi in northern Cyprus**, found in 1877 (IGR III, 930), records a benefactor who “also altered the senate by means of assessors **during the time of proconsul Paulus**”. Two cautions belong with it, and the archive gives both. It supplies only the name Paulus — no praenomen, no cognomen — and it refers to a proconsul’s *term*, not to his presence when the stone was cut. **And its date is disputed by the same scholar:** T. B. Mitford assigned it to the reign of Claudius in 1947 and to the second century in 1980. F. F. Bruce notes that even on the Claudian reading the year would be AD 50/51, **too late** for the proconsul of Acts 13. Bruce also records a **Quintus** Sergius Paullus in an inscription from Kythraia in northern Cyprus, apparently in office under Claudius.
**Two inscriptions from Pisidian Antioch**, published by William Ramsay with J. G. C. Anderson in 1912 and 1913, name **L. Sergius Paullus the younger, son of Lucius** — commissioner of the Roman streets, tribune of the sixth legion Ferrata, quaestor — and **Sergia Paulla**. Ramsay identified them as the proconsul’s son and daughter, and argued in *The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament* (1915) that the family were Christians.
**A hypothesis, labelled as one.** If the Sergii Pauli were a family of Antioch in Pisidia, that would explain why Paul and Barnabas sailed from Cyprus and went straight there (Acts 13:13–14) — a proconsul’s introduction to his own city. It is circumstantial, it is unconfirmed, and it is recorded here as a hypothesis and not as a finding.
Common questions
When was Sergius Paulus active?
Sergius Paulus is dated fl. AD 47 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Sergius Paulus in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70).
Which early sources mention Sergius Paulus?
Sergius Paulus is named in 5 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Luke, — and Apollonius. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Sergius Paulus from?
The archive associates Sergius Paulus with Paphos, Cyprus. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were Sergius Paulus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Sergius Paulus to 3 other figures, including Paul of Tarsus, Barnabas of Cyprus and Elymas (Bar-Jesus). Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Scripture record
Primary-source mentions (5)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Acts 13:6–8
c. AD 47And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.Luke · read ↗
Acts 13:9–12
c. AD 47Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? … Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.Luke · read ↗
Boundary stone of the curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis
c. AD 47[Names **L. Sergius Paulus** among the *curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis*, the commission responsible for managing the Tiber against flooding. **Ben Witherington judges this the most helpful of the three inscriptions** adduced in the question, noting that nothing in it excludes the same man having held the proconsulship of Cyprus earlier or later, and that classical scholars have been readier than New Testament scholars to identify him with the proconsul of Acts 13.]— · CIL 6.31543, Rome
Object. A Tiber boundary stone naming the commissioners of the river’s banks and channel under Claudius, dated c. AD 47.
Greek inscription from Soloi, Cyprus
c. AD 50“… He also altered the senate by means of assessors **during the time of proconsul Paulus**.” [Two cautions belong with this stone and the archive gives both. It supplies only the nomen **Paulus** — no praenomen, no cognomen — and it dates an act by a proconsul’s **term**, not by his presence. **And it may not help at all**: F. F. Bruce observes that even on Mitford’s Claudian reading the year would be AD 50/51, **too late** for the proconsul of Acts 13; Mitford himself later redated it to the second century. Bruce further records a **Quintus** Sergius Paullus at Kythraia in northern Cyprus, apparently in office under Claudius.]Apollonius · IGR III, 930 — Soloi, northern Cyprus (found 1877)
Object. A dedicatory enclosure inscription. **Dating disputed by the same scholar:** T. B. Mitford placed it under Claudius in 1947 (*Annual of the British School at Athens* 42, 201–06) and in the second century in 1980.
Inscriptions from Pisidian Antioch
c. AD 100“To L(ucius) Sergius Paullus, the younger, son of Lucius, one of the four commissioners in charge of the Roman streets, tribune of the soldiers of the sixth legion styled Ferrata, quaestor …” [With a second stone naming **Sergia Paulla**. Ramsay identified the pair as the proconsul’s **son and daughter**. **The hypothesis this supports is labelled as a hypothesis:** if the Sergii Pauli were a distinguished family of Antioch in Pisidia, it would explain why Paul and Barnabas left Cyprus and went directly there (Acts 13:13–14) — a proconsul’s introduction to his own city. Circumstantial, unconfirmed, and not adopted.]— · Published by W. M. Ramsay with J. G. C. Anderson, 1912 and 1913
Objects. Ramsay argued the family of Sergius Paulus were Christians in *The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament* (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1915), 150–72.
Names proposed by later tradition
Sergius Paulus = L. Sergius Paulus of CIL 6.31543
The Tiber curator under Claudius, c. AD 47. Witherington notes nothing excludes the identification and that classicists have been readier to make it than New Testament scholars. Recorded, not adopted.
The Sergii Pauli as a family of Pisidian Antioch
Ramsay’s reading of two inscriptions naming L. Sergius Paullus the younger and Sergia Paulla, which would explain the mission’s route from Cyprus to Pisidian Antioch at Acts 13:13–14. Circumstantial and unconfirmed; recorded as a hypothesis.
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 30 · Crucifixion, Resurrection and Pentecost, AD 30–33
- AD 44 · Persecution under Herod Agrippa I, AD 44
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Sergius Paulus.
- 1Cyprusprovince only