GALLIO, JUNIUS

born c. 5 BC, Corduba, Baetica [now Crdoba, Spain] died AD 65 original name Lucius Annaeus Novatus Roman official who dismissed the charges brought by the Jews against the apostle Paul (Acts 18:1217). The elder brother of the philosopher and tragedian Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Novatus assumed the name Gallio after his adoption by the senator Junius Gallio. Upon the accession of the emperor Claudius (reigned 4154), Gallio probably accompanied his illustrious brother into exile on the island of Corsica, Seneca having fallen victim to the intrigues of Claudius' wife, Messalina. The two brothers evidently returned to Rome in 49, when Claudius' new wife, Agrippina the Younger, selected Seneca to be tutor to the emperor Nero (reigned 5468). The episode involving the apostle Paul, which occurred when Gallio was serving as proconsul of Achaea (in Greece) in 51, indicates that Roman provincial officials at that time were remaining aloof from the struggle between the Jews and the new Christian religion. He became consul in 55. After Nero forced Seneca to commit suicide, Gallio also took his own life.