The appeal “I am a Roman citizen” had profound meaning in the ancient world. Two famous cases demonstrate a significant benefit of Roman citizenship: protection from officially sanctioned bodily harm during an interrogation. In one recorded case, the man’s words were heard, and he was saved from pain and suffering; in the other, his plea was ignored, and he paid the ultimate price.
The case of Paul
In the summer of AD 55, Paul (a.k.a. Saul) of Tarsus of Cilicia was arrested in Jerusalem. What happened is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (22-26), written in Greek perhaps by Luke, the Christian Evangelist.
Paul was in the city on his third missionary journey where he was actively proselytizing among the Jews. The crowd listened to him intently until he told them about his conversion to Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. Then they raised their voices in anger and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s
