Quirinius
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Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (rendered in Greek Κυρήνιος Kyrenios, sometimes Grecized as Cyrenius, c. 51 BC - AD 21) was the Roman governor of Syria.
Born in the neighborhood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome, his family was rich but lacked political influence. Quirinius served in the Roman army, possibly participating in Octavian's campaign that culminated in the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. For the following decade he served in Spain, and upon assuming his first governorship, Quirinius defeated the Marmarici, a tribe of desert raiders, before becoming governor of Crete and Cyrene in 14 BC. In 12 BC he was named a consul in Rome as a favorite of Augustus. Six years afterward he was dispatched to govern Pamphylia-Galatia in the east, where another successful military campaign there earned him honors in Rome.
By AD 1, Quirinius had become chief advisor to Augustus' grandson Gaius Caesar, who died from wounds suffered on campaign. When he saw Augustus' support shift to his stepson Tiberius, he entered the latter's camp of followers.
After the banishment of Herod Archelaus in 6, Iudaea Province (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea and Idumea) came under the direct administration of the Romans. It thus becomes clear why the emperor Augustus should have ordered the ex-consul Quirinius to Syria to levy an assessment. At the same time Coponius was sent as prefect of Iudaea; but Quirinius went there also, as Legate of Syria, since the levying of the tax on the entire province was his special duty.
The assessment caused great dissatisfaction among the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the high priest Joazar. The levying of this assessment resulted, moreover, in the revolt of Judas the Galilean and in the formation of the party of the Zealots.
He served as governor of Syria with nominal authority over Iudaea until 12, when he returned to Rome as a close associate of Tiberius. Nine years later Quirinius died and was given a public funeral.
The Gospel of Luke mentions Quirinius, governor of Syria in relation to a census of the "whole world". The statement in Luke, however, still puzzles historians, for Luke and the Gospel of Matthew date the events surrounding the birth of Jesus to the reign of Herod the Great, who by the accounts of Josephus, Strabo, and Tacitus died in 4 BC, nearly ten years before Quirinius became governor of Syria. Josephus does, however, document a census taken early in Quirinius' term of office.
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The literature is given in Emil Schürer, Geschichte 3d ed., i. 508-543, the following works being especially important:
- T. Mommsen, Res Gestœ Divi Augusti, 1st ed., p. 121 (2d ed., pp. 175 et seq.);
- Karl Theodor Keim, Gesch. Jesu 3d ed., pp. 101 et seq., Zurich, 1873;
- David Strauss, Das Leben Jesu, 11th ed., i. 57, ii. 24, Bonn, 1895;
- Alfred Edersheim, Life of Jesus the Messiah, i. 182, London 1883;
- Francis Haverfield, in The Classical Review, 1900.
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
| Preceded by: Tiberius and Publius Quinctilius Varus |
Consul of the Roman Empire 12 BC |
Succeeded by: Quintus Aelius Tubero and Paullus Fabius Maximus |
