
Coponius was the first Roman governor (
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect' ...
) of
Judaea province (from 6 CE to 9 CE).
Biography

He was, like the prefects who succeeded him, an
eques, and "had the power of life and death".
During his administration the revolt of
Judas the Galilean occurred,
the cause of which was not so much the personality of Coponius as the introduction of Roman soldiers. Owing to the reconstruction of the
province of Judea then in progress, the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
was being taken by
Quirinius
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, ...
,
Roman legate
A legate (Latin: , ) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman army, equivalent to a high-ranking general officer of modern times. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer in comman ...
of
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
, which was a further cause of offence.
In 9, Coponius was recalled to Rome, and replaced by
Marcus Ambivulus.
See also
*
Roman Procurator coinage
*
Coponia gens
References
*
Further reading
*
Schürer, Emil. ''Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi''. 3d ed., i. 487.
*
Schlatter, Adolf. ''Zur Topographie und Geschichte Palästinas''. p. 206.
*
Krauss, Samuel. ''Griechische und Lateinische Lehnwörter in Talmud, Midrasch und Targum''. ii. 537.
{{s-end
Roman governors of Judaea
1st-century Romans
1st-century Roman governors of Judaea
Census of Quirinius