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Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius,King James Version of , a back-transliteration of the Greek Κυρήνιος. was a Roman Empire aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Judaea had been added for the purpose of a census. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, Chapter 1: "Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance ..."
Sometime between 12 and 1 BC, he led a campaign against the Homanades (Homonadenses), a tribe based in the mountainous region of Galatia and Cilicia, around 5–3 BC, probably as legate of Galatia. He won the campaign by reducing their strongholds and starving out the defenders.Erich S. Gruen, "The Expansion of the Empire under Augustus" in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume X: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC – AD 69, (Cambridge University Press, 1996) pages 153–154; see also Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution, (Oxford University Press, 1939, reissued 2002), page 399. Justin K. Hardin, Galatians and the Imperial Cult, (Mohr Siebeck, 2008) page 56, suggests that it is uncertain whether Quirinius actually served as legate; he may have served only as a military general. For this victory, he was awarded a Roman triumph and elected Duumviri by the colony of Antioch of Pisidia.Justin K. Hardin, Galatians and the Imperial Cult, (Mohr Siebeck, 2008) page 56.
By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed tutor to Augustus' grandson Gaius Caesar, until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign. When Augustus' support shifted to his stepson Tiberius, Quirinius changed his allegiance to the latter. Having been married to Claudia Appia, about whom little is known, he divorced her and around 3 AD married Aemilia Lepida, daughter of Quintus Aemilius Lepidus and sister of Manius Aemilius Lepidus, who had originally been betrothed to Lucius Caesar.Robin Seager, Tiberius (Blackwell Publishing, 2005), page 129. Within a few years they were divorced: in 20 AD he accused her of claiming that he was her son's father, and later of trying to poison him during their marriage. Tacitus claims that she was popular with the public, who regarded Quirinius as carrying on a prosecution out of spite.Francesca Santoro L'Hoir, Tragedy, Rhetoric, and the Historiography of Tacitus' Annales (University of Michigan Press, 2006), page 177.
After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Judaea (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea and Idumea) came under direct Roman administration, with Coponius appointed as prefect. At the same time, Quirinius was appointed legatus of Syria, with instructions to assess Judea Province for taxation purposes. (1998). 9780664257279, Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664257279 One of his first duties was to carry out a census as part of this order.Erich S. Gruen, "The Expansion of the Empire under Augustus" in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume X: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC – AD 69, (Cambridge University Press, 1996) pages 157
The Jews already hated their pagan conquerors, and censuses were forbidden under Jewish law. The assessment was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the Kohen Gadol Joazar. Jewish Encyclopedia: QUIRINIUS, P. SULPICIUS: "The assessment caused great dissatisfaction among the Jews (ib.), and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the high priest Joazar (ib. 2, § 1). The levying of this assessment resulted, moreover, in the revolt of Judas the Galilean and in the formation of the party of the Zealots (Josephus, "B. J." vii. 8, § 1; Lucas, in Acts v. 37). Josephus mentions the assessment in another passage also ("Ant." xx. 5, § 2)." Despite efforts to prevent revolt, the census did trigger the revolt of Judas of Galilee and the formation of the party of the Zealots, according to JosephusH.H. Ben-Sasson, A History of the Jewish People, Harvard University Press, 1976, , page 274: "Josephus connects the beginnings of the extremist movement called with the census held under the supervision of Quirinius, the legate of Syria, soon after Judea had been converted into a Roman province (6 AD)." and of which Luke speaks in the Acts of the Apostles.
There is a reference to Quirinius in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, which mentions the birth of Jesus alongside a reference to the time of the Census of Quirinius, a reference which is widely held to contradict the time of Jesus' birth described in the Gospel of Matthew during the reign of Herod the Great, who died in the year 4 BC. According to this view, the time of the census of Quirinius is inconsistent with Luke chapter 1, in which Herod is described as still being alive a little more than a year before Jesus's birth. Most critical scholars judge Luke to be inconsistent with the historical evidence. (2025). 9780567018403, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9780567018403
Recently, however, David J. Armitage proposed an alternative reading of Luke 2:1-7, asserting that Luke has been misread by both critical and conservative scholarship and that the events mentioned in Luke 2:1-5 are to be linked with the preceding verse rather than 2:6ff. Such a solution would be compatible with the chronology found in Josephus. Quirinius served as governor of Syria with authority over Judaea until 12 AD, when he returned to Rome as a close associate of Tiberius. Nine years later he died and was given a public funeral.
The discovery of coins issued by Quirinius as governor of Syria, bearing the date "the 36th year of Caesar Augustus" (5/6 AD counted from the Battle of Actium) confirmed his position there. The census that he conducted in Syria has been confirmed by an inscription on the Stele of Quintus Aemilius Secundus = ILS 2683 purchased in Beirut in 1674 and brought to Venice, commemorating a Roman officer who had served under him stating among other achievements: "By order of the same Quirinius I took a census of the city of Apamea".
Historical accounts
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote in his Annals Book III that when Quirinius died in 21 AD, Tiberius Caesar "requested that the Senate pay tribute ... with a public funeral", and described him as a "tireless soldier, who had by his faithful services become consul during the reign of Augustus, ... and later was appointed to be an adviser to Caius Caesar in the government of Armenia ..." The Jewish historian Josephus wrote in more detail about the census of Judea around 6 AD that Quirinius undertook as the governor of Syria.
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Categories: 50s Bc Births, 21 Deaths, 1st-century Roman Governors Of Syria, People From Lanuvio, Sulpicii, 1st-century Bc Romans, 1st-century Romans, Roman Governors Of Crete And Cyrenaica, Imperial Roman Consuls, Roman Governors Of Galatia, Roman Governors Of Syria, Census Of Quirinius, Lanuvium, People In The Gospel Of Luke
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