Claudio Lisias (gr. Kláudios Lusías). Military tribune in charge of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem at the time of Paul’s visit to the city, at the end of the 3rd missionary journey. His Greek name, Lysias,* seems to indicate that he was a Greek by race. He claimed that he had purchased his Roman citizenship for a large sum (Acts 22:28). Probably in connection with this event he adopted the name of the Emperor Claudius, whose wife and other courtiers did a great deal by selling Roman citizenship. Luke calls him a hiliarjos, literally “commander of 1,000 men” or “tribune” (Acts 24:7). He occupied with his soldiers the Antonia fortress, which dominated the temple area from the north, and was connected to it by a staircase, which allowed quick access to the atrium in case of emergency. Thus, when the Jewish mob attacked Paul, Claudius with his soldiers were on hand to rescue him. He first ordered Paul to be interrogated with torture, but when he was informed that he was a Roman citizen, he untied him. When he later got reports of a Jewish plot to kill Paul, he sent the apostle to the procurator Felix at Caesarea (Act 21:30-23:30).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
A leading captain who rescued Paul from the fanatical Jewish mutineers in Jerusalem (Acts 21:31; Acts 24:22). He was Greek, as his middle name shows. He was a tribune (gr., Chiliarca, leader of 1,000 men), in charge of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem, stationed in the castle of Antonia, adjoining the temple. When informed by Paul that he was a Roman citizen and therefore could not legally be flogged, Claudius told Paul that he had bought his Roman citizenship with a great price (Acts 22:28). To protect Paul, he immediately sent him to Caesarea to see Felix, the Roman governor.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Roman (military) tribune who rescued Paul from an angry mob in Jerusalem. † œOrdered that he be flogged †, but upon learning that Paul was a Roman he desisted from subjecting him to torment (Acts 21:31; Acts 22: 24-29). He received word that an assassination attempt was being made on Paul and ordered † ¢ † † Felix the Governor † to be transferred to Caesarea overnight, and wrote him a letter which is a good model of Roman military correspondence. The tribune commanded a cohort, a military unit that could have from six hundred to a thousand men.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
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vet, The Roman official in Jerusalem who, when Paul was arrested, protected him and moved quickly to separate him from those around him intent on killing him (Acts 23:26; 24:7, 22).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Military commander (chiliarch) of the Roman garrison that was in Jerusalem when the apostle Paul last visited that city around 56 CE, and commanded 1,000 men. Since Lysias was a Greek name, it follows that Claudius was Greek by birth. He acquired Roman citizenship for a large sum of money during the reign of Claudius, and, as was the custom among those who obtained such citizenship, he adopted the name of the emperor who ruled at the time. (Ac 22:28; 23:26) According to the Greek historian Dio Cassius, early in the reign of Emperor Claudius it was customary to sell Roman citizenship for large sums. (Roman history, LX, 17, 5, 6.)
Claudius Lysias appears in the Acts record in connection with an incident involving the apostle Paul. He took soldiers and army officers and rescued Paul from death at the hands of a mob. He grabbed Pablo and ordered them to tie him up, but since the tumult did not allow him to find out who he was and what he had done, he ordered them to take him to the soldiers’ barracks, located in the Antonia Fortress. (Acts 21:30-34.)
Claudius Lysias erroneously concluded that Paul was the Egyptian who had long ago instigated a sedition and led the 4,000 “men with daggers” into the desert, but when he learned that this was not the case, he granted Paul’s request to address the crowd from the stairs (probably those of the fortress). As soon as Paul mentioned his commission to go to the nations, violence broke out again, so Claudius Lysias ordered him to be taken into the soldiers’ barracks and “interrogated by whipping.” (Acts 21:35-40; 22:21-24.)
Before the order was carried out, Claudius Lysias was informed that Paul was a Roman citizen, and when he found out for himself that it was true, he became afraid that he had tied him up and thereby violated his rights as a Roman. (Ac 22:25-29) It is understandable that this officer accepted Paul’s word, since the false claim of having the rights of a Roman citizen was punishable by death. The historian Suetonius, in The Twelve Caesars (translation by Jaime Arnal, Orbis, Barcelona, 1985, †œTiberius Claudius Druso† , XXV), explains that the emperor †œforbade foreigners to take Roman family names, and had them executed with an ax in the Esquiline field those who had usurped the title of Roman citizen† .
Wanting to know exactly what Paul was being accused of, Claudius Lysias had the Sanhedrin assembled. When Paul introduced the subject of the resurrection, such dissension arose among the members of the Sanhedrin that Claudius Lysias was afraid that the apostle would be torn to pieces and ordered the body of soldiers to “snatch him from their midst.” (Ac 22:30; 23:6-10.)
Later, when Paul’s nephew told him that there was a Jewish plot to kill the apostle, Claudius Lysias sent for two of his army officers and ordered them to prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to set out for Caesarea around at nine o’clock at night in order to bring Pablo before Governor Felix. (Ac 23:16-24) In accordance with Roman law, he also sent a report of the case to the governor, although it was not entirely factual. Although he acknowledged Paul’s innocence, he implied that he had rescued him because he had learned that he was a Roman, while in reality he had violated his rights as a citizen by having him tied up and having him examined by submitting him to to whipping (Acts 23:25-30.)
The disciple Luke knew the content of this letter perhaps because it was read when Paul’s case was seen, and it may even be that the apostle received a copy of it after appealing to Caesar.
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
In Acts. 21.31ff the military tribune (Gr. jiliarjos‘captain of a thousand’; °vrv2“tribune of the company”; °vha“cohort tribune”; vp, “battalion commander”) in command of the Roman garrison of the Antonia fortress in Jerusalem, who took Paul into his custody. He had acquired Roman citizenship with money (Acts 22.28); its name Claudius suggests that he had bought it in Claudius’ principality, when Roman citizenship became increasingly available for cash. Lysias’ cognoment indicates that he was Greek by birth. His letter to Felix concerning Paul (Acts 23:26-30) subtly arranges the facts in order to make his own performance in the case appear more favorably.
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Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary