--- title: "The bema (rostra) in the Roman forum at Corinth" canonical: "https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence/corinth-bema" published: "2026-10-23" updated: "2026-10-23" license: "https://paulineletters.com/explore/license" source: "Pauline Letters" --- # The bema (rostra) in the Roman forum at Corinth **What does this evidence establish about Acts and Paul’s letters?** Possibly, but not provably. The large platform in Corinth's Roman forum is a reasonable candidate for the tribunal (bēma) where Gallio refused to judge Paul (Acts 18:12-17). Kent restored scattered marble fragments as naming it the colony's rostra, and some platform probably stood there by Paul's day. No ancient source names the spot, the identification is a modern inference from the excavations, and a tribunal in the Julian Basilica is a serious alternative. - **Date:** Platform probably built soon after the colony's foundation in 44 BC, at first with a poros facade (Corinth Computer Project; Kent). An inscribed epistyle from the eastern benched alcove is tentatively Augustan (Kent 157). Kent dated the marble facing (Kent 322) by letter forms to the first half of the 1st century AD, probably the second quarter, though his building table lists it under Claudius. A church or burial chapel stood near it from the 9th or early 10th century; a church on the platform is certain by the 12th (Scranton). - **Where it is now:** Platform in situ in the Roman forum at the Ancient Corinth archaeological site, Greece. The revetment fragments of Kent 322 (Kent's inv. 285, 410, 682, 727, 1929, 2119) belong to the Corinth Excavations collection; their storage or display was not verified. - **Confidence:** Medium - **How it is supported:** Reconstructed - **Catalogue references:** Corinth VIII.3 322; Corinth VIII.2 47; Corinth VIII.2 52; Corinth VIII.3 157; Corinth VIII.3 306; Corinth VIII.3 728; AE 1939, 110; AE 1947, 198; EDCS-08200272; EDCS-15300190 - **Bears on:** Acts 18:12-17; Acts 25:6; Acts 25:17; John 19:13 ## What it establishes Kent joined white-marble revetment fragments, found 1901-1938 around the forum, into a building text whose surviving letters ROST he restored as rost[ra] (Corinth VIII.3 322; EDCS-08200272). Matching the slab's thickness and finish to the platform's facing, he concluded that the central platform was officially the Rostra, the Latin counterpart of the Greek bēma (tribunal). An inscribed epistyle from the eastern schola is tentatively Augustan (Kent 157). Kent dated the marble facing to the first half of the 1st century, probably the second quarter, though his building table lists it under Claudius. So a platform, at least in an earlier poros-faced form, probably stood in the forum when Gallio governed Achaia in the early 50s. Corinth had a rostra from which official letters were read around AD 170 (Kent 306; AE 1939, 110). The text does not say which structure that was, and it shows 2nd-century practice only. Acts 18:12, 16 and 17 place Gallio's hearing at a bēma. Excavation shows that Corinth's civic centre had a prominent public platform of that kind, so Luke's setting fits the city's layout. Any provincial capital would have had such a tribunal, so the fit is expected rather than distinctive. ## What it does not establish That Paul stood before this platform. No ancient text or inscription connects it with Gallio or Paul; the identification is a modern inference from the platform's location and function. The date or details of the hearing. Gallio's term is dated by the separate Delphi letter of Claudius, and Acts is the only account of the hearing. A continuous Christian memory of Paul at the spot. A church or burial chapel stood near the platform from the 9th or early 10th century and a church on it is certain by the 12th; Scranton judged the needed continuity from antiquity difficult to establish. A 9th/10th-century inscription naming a church of [Saint] Paul (Kent 728) shows a Pauline dedication by then, not a 1st-century memory. ## Where interpreters differ Kent judged the identification of the governor's rostra assured, and later catalogues (EDCS) reproduce his restoration, though only ROST of the key word survives and Kent allowed that his restoration might not prove correct in every detail. Three questions remain open. First, did Gallio's hearing take place at this platform or at a tribunal elsewhere? According to the publisher's description of Corinth XXII (2022), the Julian Basilica was the likely seat of the province's imperial law court. Second, how much of the marble phase visible today predates Gallio's term? Third, does the medieval church on the platform preserve an ancient memory or reflect a later identification? ## Other readings Court held in a basilica. Formal proconsular hearings may have been held in a basilica rather than on the open-air rostra. The publisher's description of Corinth XXII (2022) calls the Julian Basilica, at the east end of the forum, the likely seat of Achaia's imperial law court. Gallio's tribunal could have stood there. The description does not discuss Paul. Bēma names the tribunal, not a building. Acts uses the same term for Festus's tribunal at Caesarea (Acts 25:6; Acts 25:17), and John uses it for Pilate's at the place called the Pavement (John 19:13). A governor's tribunal is described in different settings, so Acts 18 need not mean the permanent rostra; the forum platform is one plausible candidate among others. Medieval identification rather than memory. The Byzantine church on the platform may reflect a later Christian identification of the site rather than a memory handed down from the 1st century. Scranton judged the necessary continuity difficult to establish, and the earliest attested Pauline dedication nearby (Kent 728) dates from the 9th or 10th century. Earlier or unfinished structure in Paul's day. Kent's building table places the marble facing under Claudius (AD 41-54), though his text prefers the second quarter of the century. The marble rostra may therefore have been finished just before Gallio's term or after it, and Paul may have seen the earlier platform faced with poros (local limestone). ## Bibliography and sources - Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss-Slaby, EDCS record of the rostra revetment inscription, Corinth (cites West no. 47; = Kent no. 322) — EDCS-08200272 - Epigraphik-Datenbank Clauss-Slaby, EDCS record of a governor's letter to Corinth with the note that it was read from the rostra (AE 1939, 110; = Kent no. 306) — EDCS-15300190 - Pleiades, Corinthus/Korinthos — 570182 --- Canonical: https://paulineletters.com/explore/evidence/corinth-bema