Quirinius encyclopedia topics

Life

Born in the neighborhood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome, of an undistinguished family, Quirinius followed the normal pathway of service for an ambitious young man of his social class. According to the Roman historian Florus, Quirinius defeated the Marmaridae, a tribe of desert raiders from Cyrenaica, possibly while governor of Crete and Cyrene around 14 BC, declining however the honorific name Marmaricus. In 12 BC he was named consul, a sign that he enjoyed the favour of Augustus. Some years later, he led a campaign against the Homonadenses, a tribe based in the mountainous region of Galatia and Cilicia, around 5 - 3 BC, probably as legate of Galatia. He won by reducing their strongholds and starving out the defenders. For this victory, he was awarded a triumph.

By AD 1, Quirinius was appointed rector to Augustus' grandson Gaius Caesar, until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign. When Augustus' support shifted to his stepson Tiberius, Quirinius entered the latter's camp of followers. Having been married to Claudia Appia, about whom little is known, he divorced her and around AD 3 married Aemilia Lepida, daughter of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and sister of Manius Aemilius Lepidus, who had originally been betrothed to Lucius Caesar. Within a few years they were divorced; in AD 20 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.

After the banishment of Herod Archelaus in 6, Iudaea Province (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea and Idumea) came under direct Roman administration. One of Quirinius' first duties was to carry out a census to assess the new province for tax purposes. 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 was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the high priest Joazar. As it was, the census did trigger the revolt of Judas the Galilean and the formation of the party of the Zealots, according to Josephus.

Quirinius 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 he died and was given a public funeral.

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel of Luke links the birth of Jesus to the census taken by Quirinius when he was governor of Syria, as part of a census of the "whole world". However Luke and the Gospel of Matthew date the birth to the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC, nearly ten years before Quirinius became governor. According to Raymond E. Brown, most modern historians acknowledge that Luke's account is mistaken.