A Jewish believer expelled from Rome by Claudius with her husband Aquila, and a tentmaker like Paul, who lodged and worked with them at Corinth. She and Aquila travelled with him to Ephesus, where they heard the eloquent Apollos preaching an incomplete gospel and took him aside to explain the way of God more accurately. A church met in their house, and Paul says the pair risked their necks for his life. She is usually named before her husband — unusual enough in that world to suggest she was the more prominent teacher.
Rijksmuseum — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Ancient writersActs says Priscilla and Aquila had left Italy because the emperor Claudius ordered the Jews out of Rome. The Roman writer Suetonius independently records that expulsion — 'Claudius drove out the Jews, who were making constant disturbances' — anchoring her arrival at Corinth to about AD 49.
Suetonius, Divus Claudius 25.4 ('Iudaeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantis Roma expulit'); dated to Claudius's ninth year (AD 49) by Orosius, Historiae Adversum Paganos 7.6.15–16; cf. Acts 18:2
ScholarlyA teacher in her own right: she and Aquila together instructed the eloquent Apollos, and Paul names her first of the pair four times out of six — unusual enough that many scholars read her as the more prominent partner.
Named first in Acts 18:18, 26; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19
He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
Paul, having stayed after this many more days, took his leave of the brothers,
and sailed from there for Syria, together with Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow.
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Acts 18:26— Explains 'the way of God more accurately'
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
Saint Paul with Saints Aquila and Priscilla · Jan van der Venne — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Saint Paul with Saints Aquila and Priscilla · Jan van der Venne — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Menologion of Basil II - Priscilla and Aquila · Authors of Menologion of Basil II (circa 985 AC, Constantinople), Byzantine manuscript illuminators[1]:
Pantoleon with Georgios, Michael the Younger, Michael of Blachernae, Symeon, Symeon of Blacherna — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)Harold Copping - Priscilla illustration from Women of the Bible published by - (MeisterDrucke-225035) · Harold Copping — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)Aquila en zijn vrouw Priscillia, St.Paulus te Corinthe bij de tentmaker · After Joos van Winghe — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)Heilige Procopius van Caesarea, Heilige Aquila en Heilige Priscilla van Rome, Heilige Anatolia, Heilige Rufina en Heilige Secunda van Rome (8-10 juli) Alle heiligen en de Christelijke feestdagen van het jaar (serietitel, RP-P-OB-20.745 · Rijksmuseum — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Menaion icon (17 c., TsAK) - July by shakko · shakko — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Menaion icon (17 c., TsAK) - July · Anonymous Russian icon painter (before 1917)Public domain image (according to PD-Russia-expired) — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
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Rijksmuseum — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersActs says Priscilla and Aquila had left Italy because the emperor Claudius ordered the Jews out of Rome. The Roman writer Suetonius independently records that expulsion — 'Claudius drove out the Jews, who were making constant disturbances' — anchoring her arrival at Corinth to about AD 49.
