Suetonius on Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome
The expulsion of Jews from Rome under Claudius that Acts mentions in passing is recorded by a Roman biographer.
Named outside the BibleAncient writerc. AD 121
In his life of Claudius, the Roman biographer Suetonius notes that the emperor expelled the Jews from Rome because they were making constant disturbances "at the instigation of Chrestus". Acts mentions Paul meeting Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth, recently arrived from Italy "because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome".
Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome.
- Found
- Transmitted in medieval manuscripts
- Now held at
- Various manuscript collections
- Language
- Latin
- How it reached us
- Never buried — copied by hand, generation after generation, until printing.
What it shows
Whether "Chrestus" is a garbled reference to Christ or a separate agitator is genuinely debated, though the former is the common reading. The expulsion itself is not in doubt.
How historians use it
A standard source on Claudius's policy and on the early presence of Christianity in Rome.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
- Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (2000)
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.