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Coponius was the 1st Roman governor (
Coponius was the 1st 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's ...
) of Judaea province (6 to 9).
Biography
He was, like the prefects who succeeded him, of knightly rank, 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, thecensus
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 inc ...
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, to ...
, Roman legate
A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...
of Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, which was a further cause of offence.
In 9 Coponius was recalled to Rome, and replaced by Marcus Ambivulus. Probably it is on account of this occurrence that one door of the Temple bore the name of "door of Coponius".Mid. i. 3.; compare the reading in Parḥi 16a, ed. Edelman. Regarding the personal attitude of Coponius toward the Jews nothing definite is known.
See also
*Roman Procurator coinage The procuratorial coinage of Roman Judaea was minted by the prefects and procurators of the province between AD 6 and 66 in only one denomination and size, the bronze prutah.
Not all of the Procurators issued coinage. Those that did were Coponius ...
Notes
References
* Schürer, Gesch. 3d ed., i. 487; * Schlatter, Zur Topogr. und Gesch. Palästinas, p. 206; * Krauss, Lehnwörter, ii. 537. {{s-end Roman governors of Judaea 1st-century Romans 1st-century Roman governors of Judaea Census of Quirinius