Suetonius: Essential Insights for Understanding Christianity

Chapter 1

The author of Acts makes mention of this same expulsion, which occurred in 49 CE according to the fifth century church father Orosius, in Acts 18:2. 1 “There he [Paul] met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.” Aquila and Priscilla seem to have been converted prior to meeting Paul. However, it is also possible that the Jews were expelled from Rome for a different cause. Chrestus is a suitable Greek name, so there may have been an agitator by the name of Chrestus in Rome. Or there may have been a different messianic pretender in Rome. It is difficult to say. Suetonius also makes mention of Nero’s persecution in 16.2: 2 “Punishment by Nero was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition.” Notably, unlike Tacitus, Suetonius does not associate this punishment with the fire that swept Rome.