Claudius

Claudius (Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus) was the fourth Roman emperor, reigning from AD 41 to 54. He is mentioned in the New Testament in connection with a famine that struck the Roman world during his reign (Acts 11:28), fulfilling Agabus's prophecy and prompting the Antiochene church to send relief to Judea. His edict expelling Jews from Rome, referenced in Acts 18:2, caused Priscilla and Aquila to relocate to Corinth, where they became Paul's companions and hosts.

The Roman historian Suetonius records that Claudius expelled Jews from Rome because of continuous disturbances instigated by one Chrestus, a reference many scholars take as an early Roman awareness of disputes over Christ within the Jewish community. The claudius lysias mentioned in Acts 21–23 — the Roman tribune who rescued Paul from the Jerusalem mob and to whom Paul appealed his Roman citizenship — bore the name Claudius as part of his Roman citizenship, acquired under the emperor. Claudius's reign thus forms significant background to the early expansion of the church in the Mediterranean world.