Priscilla
Wife of Aquila, with whom she left Rome under Claudius, worked with Paul at Corinth and Ephesus, and hosted churches in her house. Acts calls her Priscilla and Paul calls her Prisca; both often name her before her husband.
Priscilla came to Corinth from Italy with her husband Aquila after Claudius ordered the Jews to leave Rome, and Paul lived and worked with them there (Acts 18:1–3). She and Aquila went on with him to Ephesus. There they heard Apollos in the synagogue, took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately (Acts 18:18–19, 26).
Paul, who calls her Prisca, names the couple as his “fellow workers in Christ Jesus” to whom all the Gentile churches owe thanks, and mentions the church that met in their house, first at Ephesus and later at Rome (Romans 16:3–5) (1 Corinthians 16:19). In four of the six places where the two are named she comes first (Acts 18:18, 26) (Romans 16:3) (2 Timothy 4:19). See Claudius Expels Jews from Rome.
In the timeline
- about AD 49, estimated dateClaudius Expels Jews from Rome
The emperor Claudius orders Jews to leave Rome after disturbances that Suetonius links to one “Chrestus”. Acts names Aquila and Priscilla, whom Paul meets at Corinth, among those who left. Whether “Chrestus” means Christ is disputed.
- about AD 53 to AD 57, estimated datePaul in Ephesus and the Collection for Jerusalem
Paul works for some three years at Ephesus, then travels through Macedonia and Greece gathering money from his Gentile churches for the poor of Jerusalem, and sets out to deliver it in spite of warnings.