Sergius Paulus
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This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation.
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Elymas the sorcerer is struck blind before Sergius Paulus. Engraving based on a painting by Raphael.
Sergius Paulus was a proconsul of Cyprus (1st century AD). He appears in Acts (13:6-13), where Paul overcame the attempts of Bar-Jesus or Elymas to convert Sergius to Christianity.
A boundary stone of Claudius mentioning Sergius was discovered at Rome in 1887. It records the appointment (AD 47) of the curators of the banks and the channel of the river Tiber, one of whom was Sergius. Since Paul's journey to Cyprus is usually dated to the first half of the 40s (and some scholars would date his visit even earlier), it is thought Sergius first served his three years as proconsul at Cyprus, then returned to Rome, where he was appointed curator. As he is greeted in Paul's Epistle to the Romans, it is possible he died before it was written.