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In Acts, Paul's first journey reaches Cyprus, where Luke calls the island's governor, Sergius Paulus, a 'proconsul.' The detail is easy to get wrong: Roman provinces were run either by proconsuls (senatorial) or by imperial legates, and which applied could change over time. Cyprus had become a senatorial province, so 'proconsul' is exactly right for this period — and inscriptions attest both the proconsular government of Cyprus and a prominent Sergii Paulli family. Writing about administration he could easily have fumbled, Luke gets the title precisely.
- What it is
- Inscriptions attesting the senatorial governorship of Cyprus and the aristocratic Sergii Paulli family named in Acts
- Date of artifact
- 1st century AD
- Discovered
- Cyprus and Rome (several inscriptions) (recorded by various excavators and epigraphers)
- Where it is now
- Various collections
- Related to
- Luke's precise title for the Roman governor Paul meets on Cyprus
- Scripture
- Acts 13:7
What this find showsLuke uses the correct, period-specific title for the Roman governor of Cyprus, and the Sergii Paulli were a real senatorial family — a mark of careful reporting of the imperial world.
What it does not proveNo inscription records the meeting with Paul or the governor's response; the finds confirm the setting and the title, not the episode itself.
Contested: Which surviving inscription, if any, names the very man of Acts 13 is debated.
Sources & further reading