Caesar Claudius
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Acts 11:28) - the Roman emperor who succeeded Gaius Caligula in AD 41. Secular historians mention four famines during his reign. In one, famine raged so severely in Judea that it spread into neighboring lands and lasted nearly three years. The source dates Agabus's prophecy of it, given after he came from Jerusalem to Antioch, to AD 35 or 45. The expression 'throughout all the world' plainly indicates that the famine extended beyond Judea into other regions. In the ninth year of his reign Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome by special decree, probably including those converted to Christianity (Acts 18:2).