The Gallio Inscription at Delphi

Paul appeared before the proconsul Gallio in Corinth according to Acts 18:12-17. A series of fragments of a letter from the emperor Claudius, discovered at Delphi beginning in the late nineteenth century, mentions Gallio as proconsul and can be dated to 51-52 AD based on Claudius's imperial titulature.\n\nBecause provincial proconsulships ran on known schedules, this inscription fixes Paul's year-and-a-half in Corinth (Acts 18:11) to roughly 50-52 AD. That anchor then radiates through the Pauline chronology: the writing of the Thessalonian letters, the visit with Aquila and Priscilla who had recently been expelled from Rome by Claudius, and the timing of subsequent journeys.\n\nThe Delphi inscription is therefore often described as a linchpin for New Testament chronology. It is a rare case where an external, verifiable civic document maps directly onto a specifically described ministry event.