The harbour was used not only by cargo ships, but also by travellers, and the most famous of these is Saint Paul. He had been arrested and was to stand trial, but as a Roman citizen he could appeal to the Emperor. On his journey to Rome, around 60 AD, he was shipwrecked on Malta. From there he sailed on to Puteoli on an Alexandrian ship. In the city he encountered "brothers", most likely Christian Jews:

After three months we sailed in a ship which had wintered in the island [Malta], an Alexandrian, with the Dioscuri for its ensign. Having come to Syracuse we remained there three days. From there, going in a circuitous course, we arrived at Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli, where we found brothers and were entreated to stay with them seven days. Thus we came to Rome. From there the brothers, when they heard of us, came to meet us as far as the Forum Appii and Tres Tabernae. Paul, seeing them, gave praise to God and took heart.

Acts of the Apostles 28:11-15.

Painting of Paul, discovered in 1955 in the Catacombs on the Via Latina, Rome.

The presence of Jews in Puteoli before the time of Paul is mentioned twice by Flavius Josephus. He recounts the story of a man pretending to be Alexander, son of Herod the Great, king of Judaea. Around 4 AD this man arrived in Puteoli.

This man deceived the Jews that were at Crete, and got a great deal of money of them for traveling in splendor; and thence sailed to Melos, where he was thought so certainly genuine, that he got a great deal more money, and prevailed with those that had treated him to sail along with him to Rome. So he landed at Dicearchia and got very large presents from the Jews who dwelt there, and was conducted by his father's friends as if he were a king; nay, the resemblance in his countenance procured him so much credit, that those who had seen Alexander, and had known him very well, would take their oaths that he was the very same person.

So he made haste to Rome, and was conducted thither by those strangers who entertained him. He was also so fortunate, as, upon his landing at Dicearchia, to bring the Jews that were there into the same delusion; and not only other people, but also all those that had been great with Herod, or had a kindness for him, joined themselves to this man as to their king. The cause of it was this, that men were glad of his pretenses, which were seconded by the likeness of his countenance, which made those that had been acquainted with Alexander strongly to believe that he was no other but the very same person, which they also confirmed to others by oath.

Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War II, 103-104. Translation W. Whiston.

Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities XVII, 328-329. Translation W. Whiston.

In 38 AD Agrippa, future king of Judaea, departed from Puteoli on the advice of Caligula, as described by Philo of Aexandria:

And when Agrippa was about to set out to take possession of his kingdom, Gaius advised him to avoid the voyage from Brundusium to Syria, which was a long and troublesome one, and rather to take the shorter one by Alexandria, and to wait for the periodical winds; for he said that the merchant vessels which set forth from that harbour were fast sailers, and that the pilots were most experienced men, who guided their ships like skilful coachmen guide their horses, keeping them straight in the proper course. And he took his advice, looking upon him both as his master and also as a giver of good counsel. Accordingly, going down to Dicaearchia, and seeing some Alexandrian vessels in the harbour, looking all ready and fit to put to sea, he embarked with his followers, and had a fair voyage, and so a few days afterwards he arrived at his journey's end, unforeseen and unexpected, having commanded the captains of his vessels (for he came in sight of Pharos about twilight in the evening) to furl their sails, and to keep a short distance out of sight in the open sea, until it became late in the evening and dark, and then at night he entered the port, that when he disembarked he might find all the citizens buried in sleep, and so, without any one seeing him, he might arrive at the house of the man who was to be his entertainer.

Philo of Alexandria, Against Flaccus 26-27. Translation Charles Duke Yonge.

News from all corners of the world reached Puteoli fast. In 40 AD Philo stayed there while on an embassy to Gaius, in a period of great tension between Jews and the Roman government:

For we had come from Rome to Dicaearchia attending upon Gaius; and he had gone down to the seaside and was remaining near the gulf, having left for a while his own palaces, which were numerous and superbly furnished. And while we were anxiously considering his intentions, for we were continually expecting to be summoned, a man arrived, with blood-shot eyes, and looking very much troubled, out of breath and palpitating, and leading us away to a little distance from the rest (for there were several persons near), he said, "Have you heard the news?" And then when he was about to tell us what it was he stopped, because of the abundance of tears that rose up to choke his utterance. And beginning again, he was a second and a third time stopped in the same manner. And we, seeing this, were much alarmed and agitated by suspense, and entreated him to tell us what the circumstance was on account of which he said that he had come; for he could not have come merely to weep before so many witnesses. "If, then," said we, "you have any real cause for tears, do not keep your grief to yourself; we have been long ago well accustomed to misfortune." And he with difficulty, sobbing aloud, and in a broken voice, spoke as follows: "Our temple is destroyed! Gaius has ordered a colossal statue of himself to be erected in the holy of holies, having his own name inscribed upon it with the title of Jupiter!" And while we were all struck dumb with astonishment and terror at what he had told us, and stood still deprived of all motion (for we stood there mute and in despair, ready to fall to the ground with fear and sorrow, the very muscles of our bodies being deprived of all strength by the news which we had heard), others arrived bearing the same sad tale.

Philo of Alexandria, The Embassy to Gaius 185-189. Translation Charles Duke Yonge.

The Jewish community of Puteoli is documented by a few inscriptions. A funerary inscription found near the city mentions a gerusiarch ("leader of the elders"), who was responsible for building an enclosing wall (maceria) in the necropolis. Another funerary inscription, from the territory of Puteoli, mentions a female prisoner from Jerusalem.

TI(berius) CLAVDIVS PHILIPPVS DIA VIV ET GERVSIARCHES MACERIAM DVXIT DIA VIU = DIA BIV = διὰ βίου. EDR159810. Lost.

[Cl]AVDIA ASTER [H]IEROSOLYMITANA [ca]PTIVA CVRAM EGIT [Ti(berius)] CLAVDIVS AVG(usti) LIBERTVS [Pro?]CVLVS ROGO VOS FAC [ite] PER LEGEM NE QVIS [mi]HI TITVLVM DEICIAT CV [ra]M AGATIS VIXIT ANNIS XXV Claudia Aster from Jerusalem prisoner. Taking care Tiberius Claudius Proculus, imperial freedman. I ask you, make sure through the law that you take care that no-one casts down my inscription. She lived years 25. EDR103853. Travertine. Archaeological Museum, Naples. Photo: Giancarlo Lacerenza.

Claudia Aster died at the age of 25. The name Claudia suggests that she was an Imperial freedwoman. Aster is probably the Latin form of the Hebrew Esther. She must have been taken prisoner during the capture of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD, because the man taking care of the grave was, in view of his name, a freedman of Claudius or Nero. A legal aspect suggests that he was her husband: Aster's manumission took place before she was 30 years old, which marriage would have made possible. The reference to the captivity is remarkable, as is the fear that the inscription will be torn down. It has been taken as an act of defiance or a plea for sympathy in the face of anti-Jewish sentiments in Puteoli, but we can also imagine anti-Roman sentiments if Proculus was not Jewish.

As to early Christianity in Puteoli, a presumed early bishop Celsus emerges as late as the 11th century. With certainty bishops are documented from the early 4th century onwards. Martyrs are documented in the 3rd and early 4th century. A few Christian funerary inscriptions are known. The one illustrated below, a funerary inscription of a deacon named Paulus, ended up in the United States.

[Hic re]QVIESCIT IN PACE [famu]LVS DEI PAVLVS DIACONVS QVI BIXIT AN(n)VS PL(u)S M(inus) LX DEPOSITVS S(ub) D(ie) VIIII      KAL(endas) DEC(em)BR(es) EDR101140. Marble. Ann Arbor (USA), Kelsey Museum. 400-550 AD. Photo: EDR.

In 2006 a Christian tomb was disovered with a painting of the Good Shepherd (Pastor Bonus) in an arcosolium.

Painting of the Good Shepherd from a Christian tomb.
Image: darkframe.