Paul in Corinth
Corinth was the great trading city of southern Greece, and the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. Paul arrived there, met Aquila and Priscilla, "because Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome" (Acts 18:2), and stayed "a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (Acts 18:11).
Then came trouble:
"But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul, and brought him to the judgment-seat."
Acts 18:12
Gallio threw the case out. "If it were some matter of injustice, or a heinous deed... I should with reason bear with you. But if they be questions of a word, and of names, and of your law, look you to it: I will not be judge of such matters. And he drove them from the judgment-seat" (Acts 18:14 to 16).
Gallio in stone
Gallio was a real Roman. His brother was Seneca, the famous philosopher who tutored the young Nero.
Starting in 1905, French archaeologists at Delphi, in central Greece, found pieces of a stone carved with a letter from the Emperor Claudius to the city. In it, Claudius says what he had heard about Delphi from:
"my friend and proconsul L. Iunius Gallio"
The letter also gives Claudius' title at the time, "acclaimed emperor for the 26th time." That title dates the letter to AD 52. A proconsul usually served a single year, so Gallio's year in Achaia ran from AD 51 into 52.
That places Paul in Corinth, standing before Gallio, in AD 51 to 52. It's one of the fixed dates the whole of Paul's life is measured from.
Erastus in the pavement
Paul wrote his letter to the Romans while staying in Corinth. At the end, he passes on greetings from the people around him:
"Caius, my host, and the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, saluteth you, and Quartus, a brother."
Romans 16:23
Erastus turns up again with Paul in Acts 19:22, and at the very end of Paul's last letter: "Erastus remained at Corinth" (2 Timothy 4:20).
In 1929, archaeologists digging in a paved square beside the theatre at Corinth found a Latin inscription set into the stone:
"Erastus, in return for his aedileship, laid (the pavement) at his own expense."
An aedile was one of the city's chief officials, in charge of its public buildings, streets and markets. An Erastus who held public office in Corinth, in the same century, in the same city, where Paul's friend Erastus was treasurer of the city.
Why this is a big deal
Acts and Paul's letters aren't vague religious stories. They name real officials, in a real city, holding real offices, and the stones keep confirming them.
The Roman judge in Acts 18 is in a letter from the emperor. And a public official called Erastus is still under the feet of visitors to Corinth today.