Gallio

Gallio (meaning: who sucks, or lives on milk) was the Roman proconsul of Achaia before whom Paul was brought by the Corinthian Jews on charges of unlawfully persuading people to worship God (Acts 18:12). Gallio's response was decisive: he dismissed the case before Paul could even speak, ruling that it involved disputes about Jewish law and terminology rather than any wrongdoing or vicious crime that would require Roman judicial attention. He drove the accusers from the judgment seat.

Gallio was the brother of the Stoic philosopher Seneca, who described him as a man of exceptional charm and amiability. An inscription discovered at Delphi, referencing a letter of the emperor Claudius naming Gallio as proconsul, has enabled scholars to date Paul's Corinthian ministry to approximately AD 51–52 — one of the most secure chronological anchors in Pauline chronology. Gallio's refusal to adjudicate religious disputes between Jews set a significant precedent: Roman authority would not be weaponized against the early Christian movement in matters of internal theological controversy.