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Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
aristocrat. After the banishment of the
ethnarch
Ethnarch (pronounced , also ethnarches, el, ) is a term that refers generally to political leadership over a common ethnic group or homogeneous kingdom. The word is derived from the Greek words ('' ethnos'', "tribe/nation") and (''archon'', " ...
Herod Archelaus
Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samar ...
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
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
.
Life
Born into an undistinguished family, son of Publius Sulpicius Quirinus and paternal grandson of Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, from
Gens Sulpicia, in the neighbourhood of
Lanuvium
Lanuvium, modern Lanuvio, is an ancient city of Latium vetus, some southeast of Rome, a little southwest of the Via Appia.
Situated on an isolated hill projecting south from the main mass of the Alban Hills, Lanuvium commanded an extensive vie ...
, a Latin town near Rome, 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, but nonetheless declined the honorific name "Marmaricus". In 12 BC he was named
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
, a sign that he enjoyed the favour of
Augustus
Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...
.
From 12 to 1 BC, he led a campaign against the
Homanades (Homonadenses), a tribe based in the mountainous region of
Galatia and
Cilicia
Cilicia (); el, Κιλικία, ''Kilikía''; Middle Persian: ''klkyʾy'' (''Klikiyā''); Parthian: ''kylkyʾ'' (''Kilikiyā''); tr, Kilikya). is a geographical region in southern Anatolia in Turkey, extending inland from the northeastern coa ...
, around 5–3 BC, probably as legate of Galatia. He won the campaign by reducing their strongholds and starving out the defenders. For this victory, he was awarded a
triumph
The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...
and elected
duumvir
Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally misspelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate (from Latin ', "the office of ...
by the colony of
Antioch of Pisidia.
By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed tutor to Augustus' grandson
Gaius Caesar
Gaius Caesar (; 20 BC – 21 February 4 AD) was the grandson and heir to the throne of Roman emperor Augustus, alongside his younger brother Lucius Caesar. Although he was born to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia, Augustus' only daughter, Gai ...
, until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign. When Augustus' support shifted to his stepson
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
, 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
Lucius Caesar (17 BC – 20 August AD 2) was a grandson of Augustus, the first Roman emperor. The son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, Augustus' only daughter, Lucius was adopted by his grandfather along with his older brother, ...
. 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
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
claims that she was popular with the public, who regarded Quirinius as carrying on a prosecution out of spite.
After the banishment of the ethnarch
Herod Archelaus
Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samar ...
in 6 AD,
Judaea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...
(the conglomeration of
Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...
,
Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous sou ...
and
Idumea
Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...
) came under direct Roman administration, with
Coponius appointed as
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's ...
. At the same time, Quirinius was appointed
Legate
Legate may refer to:
*Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class
:*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period
*A member of a legation
*A representative, ...
of Syria, with instructions to assess Judea Province for taxation purposes. One of his first duties was to
carry out a census as part of this order.
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
high priest Joazar. Despite efforts to prevent revolt, the census did trigger the revolt of
Judas of Galilee
Judas of Galilee, or Judas of Gamala, was a Jewish leader who led resistance to the census imposed for Roman tax purposes by Quirinius in Judea Province around 6 CE. He encouraged Jews not to register and those that did had their houses burnt an ...
and the formation of the party of the
Zealots
The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jew ...
, according to
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...
and of which Luke speaks in the
Acts of the Apostles.
There is a reference to Quirinius in the
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...
chapter 2 Chapter Two, Chapter 2, or Chapter II may refer to:
Film, television, and theatre
* ''Chapter Two'' (play), a 1977 play by Neil Simon
* ''Chapter Two'' (film), a 1979 adaptation of Neil Simon's play
Television episodes
* "Chapter 2" (''American H ...
, which links the
birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...
of
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...
to the time of the
Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, wh ...
, although this contradicts the time of Jesus' birth given in the
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...
, that is, ten years earlier, under the reign of
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...
, who died in the year 4 BC.
Quirinius served as governor of Syria with authority over Judaea until 12 AD, when he returned to Rome as a close associate of
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
. Nine years later he died and was given a public funeral.
Archaeology
The earliest known mention of his name is in an inscription from 12 BC discovered in Antioch Pisidia known as ''Res Gestae Divi Augusti'' ('The Deeds of the Divine Augustus'), which states: "A great crowd of people came together from all over Italy to my election, ... when Publius Sulpicius (Quirinius) and Gaius Valgius were consuls." Two other inscriptions also found in Pisidian Antioch (''Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae'' 9502–9503) mentioned Quirinius as a Duumvir, when Marcus Servilius was a Roman consul in 3 AD.
The discovery of coins issued by Quirinius as governor of Syria, bearing the date "the 36th year of Caesar
ugustus (5/6 AD counted from the
Battle of Actium
The Battle of Actium was a naval battle fought between a maritime fleet of Octavian led by Marcus Agrippa and the combined fleets of both Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII Philopator. The battle took place on 2 September 31 BC in the Ionian Sea, ...
) confirmed his position there.
The census that he conducted in Syria has been confirmed by an inscription purchased in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
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
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
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, ... ndlater 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.
See also
* Sulpicia (gens)
*Census of Quirinius
The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, wh ...
*List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
These are biblical figures unambiguously identified in contemporary sources according to scholarly consensus. Biblical figures that are identified in artifacts of questionable authenticity, for example the Jehoash Inscription and the bullae of Ba ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
External links
Livius.org: Publius Sulpicius Quirinius
Jewish Encyclopedia: QUIRINIUS, P. SULPICIUS
{{Authority control
51 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
People in the canonical gospels
Census of Quirinius