Aq'uila ('.W'Xnc, for Lat. aquila, an eagle, see Simon. Onomasf. 0. T. p. 588 sq.), a Jew with whom Paul met on his first visit to Corinth ; a native, of Pontus, and by occupation a tent-maker (Acts xviii). Wolf, Cura>, on Acts xviii, 2, shows the name not to have any Hebrew origin, and to have been adopted as a Latin name, like Paulus by Saul. He is there described as a Pontian by birth (llovTucbe toi yivii), from the connection of which description with the fact that we find more than one Pontius Aquila in the Pontian gens at Rome in the days of the Republic (see Cic. ad Earn. x, 33; Suet. Cces. 78), it has been imagined that he may have been a freedman of a Pontius Aquila, and that his being a Pontian by birth may have been merely an inference from his name. But besides that this is a point on which Luke could hardly be ig- norant, Aquila, the translator of the 0. T. into Greek, ■was also a native of Pontus. At the time when Paul found Aquila at Corinth, he had fled, with his wife Priscilla, from Rome, in consequence of an order of Claudius commanding all Jews to leave Rome (Suet. Claud. 25 — "Juda3os impulsore Chresto assidue tu- multuantes Roma expulit :" see Claudius). He be- came acquainted with Paul, and the}- abode together, and wrought at their common trade of making the Cilician tent or hair-cloth. See Paul. This decree
was made, not by the senate, but the emperor (A.D. 50 or 51), and lasted only during his life, if even so long. Com p. Neander, Planting and Training, i, 231 ; Lardner, Testimonies of Heathen Authors, ch. viii. Whether Aquila and Priscilla were at that time con- verts to the Christian faitli cannot be positively de- termined ; Luke's expression, " came unto them" (7rpo<riJA0EV avrolc), Acts xviii, 2, rather implies that Paul sought their society on grounds of friendship than for the purpose of persuading them to embrace Christianity. On the other hand, if we suppose tint they were already Christians, Paul's "joining himself
| to them" is highly probable ; while, if they were still adherents to Judaism, they would have been less dis- posed than even unconverted Gentiles to form an in-
I timacy with the apostle. But if Aquila had been con- verted before his first meeting with Paul, the word ^aOtjTi'ig, "disciple," would hardly have been omitted. At all events, they had embraced Christianity before Paul left Corinth ; for on his departure from Corinth, a year and six months after, Priscilla and Aquila ac- companied him to Ephesus on his way to Syria. There they remained ; and when Apollos came to Ephesus, who "knew only the baptism of John," they "in- structed him in the way of God more perfectly" (Acts xviii, 25, 26). From that time they appear to have been zealous promoters of the Christian cause in that city (1 Cor. xvi, 19). Paul styles them his "helpers in Christ Jesus," and intimates that they had exposed themselves to imminent danger on his account ("who have for my life laid down their own necks," Rom. xvi, 3, 4), though of the time and place of this trans- action we have no information. At the time of writ-
j ing 1 Cor., Aquila and his wife were still in Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi, 19) ; but in Rom. xvi, 3 sq., we find them again at Rome, and their house a place of assembly for the Christians. Some years after they appear to have returned to Ephesus, for Paul sends salutations to them during his second imprisonment at Rome (2 Tim. iv, 19), as being with Timothy. Their occupa- tion as tent-makers probably rendered it necessary for them to keep a number of workmen constantly resi- dent in their family, and to these (to such of them, it
| least, as had embraced the Christian faith) may refer the remarkable expression, " the (hurch that is in their house," Tt)v icar oIkov avruiv iKK\i]aiav (see Biscoe, quoted in Lardner's Credibility, ii, 11). Origen's ex-
| planation of these words is very similar {In Ep. ad
\Rom. Comment, x; Opera, vii, 431, Berol. 1837). Neander suggests that, as Aquila would require ex-
I tensive premises for his manufactory, he perhaps set
, apart one room for the use of a section of the Church in whatever place he fixed his residence, and that, as his superior Christian knowledge and piety qualified
, him for the < ffice of a " teacher" (ucaaKaXor'), he gave
' religious instruction to this small assembly. The salutations to individuals which follow the expression in Rom. xvi, 5, show that they were not referred to in
! it, and are quite inconsistent with the supposition that the whole Church met in Aquila's house. Nor is it probable that the collective body of Christians in Rome or elsewhere would alter their place of meeting on Aquila's return (see Neander, Gesch. d. Chr. Pel. u. Kirche, I, ii, 402, 503 ; comp. Justini Martyris Opera, Append, ii, p. 586, Par. 1742). Tradition re- ports that he and his wife were beheaded. '1 he Greek Church call Aquila bishop and apostle, and honor him on July 12 (Menalog. Grcec. ii, 185). The festival of Aquila and Priscilla is placed in the Roman Calendar, where he is denoted bishop of Heraclea, on July 8 {Martyrol. Roman.). See Priscilla.