Man living at the time of the New Testament
Tertullus was a lawyer hired by the Jewish authorities to accuse Paul before the Roman governor Felix.
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Tertullus is mentioned in Act.24.1-2 as a lawyer or orator hired by the Jewish high priest and elders to present their case against the Apostle Paul before the Roman governor Felix in Caesarea. Tertullus began his speech with flattery, praising Felix's reforms and administration. He then accused Paul of being a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews, and profaning the temple. Tertullus aimed to persuade Felix to condemn Paul, but Paul defended himself by denying the charges and asserting his innocence. The outcome of the trial is not directly stated, but Paul remained in custody for two years until Felix's successor Porcius Festus took office.
Part of: The High-Priestly Family · Roman Officials
Ananias the high priest ordered Paul struck and later went down to Caesarea with Tertullus to accuse him before Felix. Josephus identifies him as Ananias son of Nedebaeus.
Sources: Scripture · Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews
Tertullus flattered Felix and accused Paul for the high priest's delegation.
Sources: Scripture
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A modification of “Tertius;” a Roman advocate, whom the Jews employed to state their case against Paul in the presence of Felix (Acts 24:1-9). The charges he adduced against the apostle were, “First, that he created disturbances among the Romans throughout the empire, an offence against the Roman government (crimen majestatis). Secondly, that he was a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes; disturbed the Jews in the exercise of their religion, guaranteed by the state; introduced new gods, a thing prohibited by the Romans. And thirdly, that he attempted to profane the temple, a crime which the Jews were permitted to punish.”
(diminutive from Tertius), “a certain orator,” (Acts 24:1) who was retained by the high priest and Sanhedrin to accuse the apostle Paul at Caesarea before the Roman procurator Antonius Felix. He evidently belonged to the class of professional orators. We may infer that Tertullus was of Roman, or at all events of Italian, origin. (A.D. 55.)
TERTUL'LUS (diminutive of "Tertius"), a lawyer, probably a Roman, who, in consequence of their lack of familiarity with Roman forms of law, was hired by the Jews to act as prosecutor in the case of Paul before Felix. Acts 24:1-9.
TERTUL'LUS (diminutive of "Tertius"), a lawyer, probably a Roman, who, in consequence of their lack of familiarity with Roman forms of law, was hired by the Jews to act as prosecutor in the case of Paul before Felix. Acts 24:1-9.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G5061
Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, who presented to the governor their case against Paul.
When Paul had been called in, Tertullus opened the prosecution: “Because of you, we have enjoyed a lasting peace, and your foresight has brought improvements to this nation.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.