CHRONOLOGY OP THE NEW TESTAMENT CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

Of these two dates, then, Josephus enables us to choose A.D. 44. This fixes Ac 122'«-, though the events of Ac 121*- need not have been immediately before Agrippa's death; and gives a.d. 41 for his accession to Herod the Great's dominions. It is therefore probable, but not certain, that the Cornelius episode (Ac 10) must be dated before a.d. 41, as it is not likely that a centurion of the Italic cohort would be stationed at Csesarea during Agrippa's semi-independent rule (see art. Cornelius).

7. The Famine.— This was predicted by Agabus, and happened in the reign of Claudius (Ac 11""). If we can date the famine, it will help us to fix St. Paul's second visit to Jerusalem, as this was occasioned by the sending of alms through him to the famine-stricken Christians there. In Claudius' reign there were many famines, and not in every country at the same time. We read of Helena, queen of Adiabene, a convert to Judaism, arriving at Jerusalem in the middle of the famine, apparently in the procuratorship of Tiberius Alexander, probably therefore after the summer of A.D. 46 (.Joseph. Ant. xx. ii. 6, v. 2). Orosius, a Spanish writer who visited Palestine a.d. 415, puts the famine in Claudius' fourth year, i.e. in a.d. 44 {Hist. vii. 6), but Ramsay (Si. Paul', p. 68) shows that his dates at this period are a year too early; thus we arrive at a.d. 45. It is probable that a bad harvest in A.D. 45 resulted in a famine in a.d. 46, and St. Paul's visit might then be either in the middle of the famine, or at any rate during the preceding winter, when the bad harvest showed that the famine was imminent.

8. Sergius Paulus. — The term of ofiice of this pro-consul cannot be dated (for the inscription referring to it, see art. Acts of the Apostles, § 12); but, as the proconsuls in a.d. 51, 52 are known, St. Paul's visit to Cyprus must have been before that.

9. Claudius' expulsion of the Jews. — ^Theedict(AclS') is mentioned by Suetonius. Tacitus, whose Annals are defective for the early years of Claudius, speaks only of the expulsion of astrologers in a.d. 52 (.Ann. xii. 52). Suetonius (Ckmdiiia, § 25) says that the edict was due to Jewish tumults 'at the instigation of one Chrestus,' a confusion not unnatural in a heathen writer. Orosius (Hist, vii, 6) quotes Josephus as saying that the decree was made in the ninth year of Claudius, i.e. a.d. 49, but this should probably be (as above, 7) a.d. 50. Josephus, as a matter of fact , does not refer tothe matter at all, so that Orosius' authority must have been some other writer. The arrival of Aquila and Priscilla at Corinth, it we accept Orosius' statement, must have been later than this, perhaps in a.d. 51 (so Ramsay; Turner puts it one year, Harnack three years earlier).

10. Gallic. — Achaia had been made a senatorial province by Claudius in a.d. 44, and the proconsulship of Gallio, who seems to have arrived at the end of St. Paul's stay at Corinth (Ac 18'*), was no doubt several years later than this. Gallio was brother to Seneca, who was in disgrace a.d. 41-49, but was recalled and made prsetor in a.d. 50. Pliny (HN xxxl. 33) says that Gallio became consul; this was probably after Uis proconsulship in Achaia. He is said by Seneca (Ep. 104) to have caught fever in Achaia, and this is the only indication outside Acts of his proconsulship. The probability is that he did not hold this ofiice while Seneca was out of favour at Court, and therefore a.d. 50 would be the earliest year for the incident of Ac 18". It may have happened some few years later.

11. The Passover at Philippi. — Ramsay (St. Paul', p. 289 f .) considers that St. Paul left Philippi on a Friday (Ac 20'). He traces back the journey from the de-parture from Troas (v.'), on the assumption that the sermon and Eucharistic celebration at Troas were on what we call Sunday night. But would any Eastern call this 'the first day of the week' (see art. 'Calendar,' I. 1 in Hastings' DCO)! If Ramsay's calculation be accepted, the further assumption is that St. Paul, who was in baste to reach Jerusalem, left Philippi on the

morrow of the Passover, which therefore fell on Thursday. But in a.d. 57 it is calculated that it did so fall (April 7), and this therefore is Ramsay's date for St. Paul's fifth visit to Jerusalem and his arrest there. There is a triple element of doubt in this calculation — (a) as to the day on which Troas was left, (6) whether St. Paul started from Philippi on the day after the Passover, (c) as to the calculation of the Passover. We must therefore probably dismiss this element in calculating the years, though Ramsay's date is for other reasons quite probable.

12. Felix and Festus.— Felix married Drusilla, sister of Agrippa II., not long after the latter's accession to the tetrarchies of Herod Philip and Lysanias (c. a.d. 52-53); for she had married Azizus of Emesa on Agrippa's accession, and 'no long time afterward' deserted him for Felix (Joseph. Ant. xx. vii. 1, 2). Thus St. Paul's arrest could not have been before the summer of a.d. 54. Felix seems to have become proc-urator in A.D. 52, but previously he had held some office in Samaria (and possibly in Jiidsea) under, or concurrently with, Cumanus; and this accounts for the ' many years' of Ac 24'" (see art. Felix). An apparent contradiction between Tacitus, Josephus, and Eusebius is resolved by Turner (op. cit. p. 418) as against Harnack (Chronologic, p . 233 f. ), who interprets Eusebius as meaning that Felix came into ofiice in a.d. 61.

The date of Festus' arrival is greatly disputed. Light- foot, Wieseler, and SchUrer conclude that it could not have been before a.d. 60 or 61, because of Ac 24'", and because Josephus' description of the events which happened under Felix implies the lapse of many years. But for these events five or six years are amply sufficient; and for the 'many years' see above. Eusebius (Chronicle), followed by Harnack, says that Festus arrived in the second year of Nero, i.e. Oct. A.D. 55 to Oct. a.d. 56. But Eusebius probably makes the first year of an emperor begin in the September after his accession (Turner, p. 418), and this would make the second year to be Sept. a.d. 56 to Sept. a.d. 67; accordingly Raokham (Acts, p. 454) gives a.d. 67 for Festus' arrival. Another argument for an early date for Festus' arrival is that Felix was acquitted, after his recall, through the influence of his brother Pallas (Joseph. Ant. XX. viii. 9), and this could only have been (it is said) while Pallas was still in ofiBce (Josephus says that Pallas ' was at that time held in the greatest honour by ' Nero). But he was dismissed just before Britannicus' 14th birthday, in the spring of a.d. 55 (Tacitus, Ann. xiii. 14 f.). This, however, would make Festus' arrival in any case too early; it would be in the summer of A.D. 54, before Claudius' death, which contradicts Eusebius (Chron., and HE ii. 22). Harnack supposes that Tacitus wrote 'fourteenth birthday' in error for 'fifteenth.' It is, however, preferable to suppose that Pallas still retained influence even after he had left office. Turner suggests that at any rate the acquittal of Felix, when accused by the Jews, shows that Poppaea had not yet acquired her influence over Nero. 'This began in A.D. 58, though he did not marry her till a.d. 62, the year of Pallas' murder by him. This consideration, then, militates against Lightfoot's date (a.d. 60 or 61). Harnack's date (a.d. 56) comes from following Eusebius; and accordingly he dates the events of Acts two or three years at least before Ramsay and Turner. Even that early date, if Pallas was still in office when Felix was acquitted, is not easy to reconcile with Tacitus' statement. It does not seem safe to rely on Eusebius' chronology in this case, considering that in other cases it is so inaccurate.

13. Persecutions of Nero and Domitian. — (1) Death of St. Peter and of St. Paul. — There is no good reason for supposing that the two Apostles died on the same day or even in the same year, though we may probably con-clude that they both were martyred under Nero. Their joint commemoration is due to their bodies having been transferred to the Catacombs together on June 29, a.d.

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