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Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated asCyrenius,[1] was aRomanaristocrat. After the banishment of theethnarchHerod Archelaus from thetetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor ofSyria, to which theprovince of Judaea had been added for the purpose of acensus.[2]
Quirinius was born into an undistinguished family, the son of Publius Sulpicius Quirinius and paternal grandson to Publius Sulpicius Quirinius fromGens Sulpicia, in the neighbourhood ofLanuvium, 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 historianFlorus, Quirinius defeated the Marmaridae, a tribe of desert raiders from Cyrenaica, possibly while governor ofCrete and Cyrene around 14 BC, but nonetheless declined the honorific name "Marmaricus".[3] In 12 BC he was namedconsul, a sign that he enjoyed the favour ofAugustus.
Sometime between 12 and 1 BC, he led a campaign against theHomanades (Homonadenses), a tribe based in the mountainous region ofGalatia andCilicia, around 5–3 BC, probably as legate of Galatia. He won the campaign by reducing their strongholds and starving out the defenders.[4] For this victory, he was awarded atriumph and electedduumvir by the colony ofAntioch of Pisidia.[5]
By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed tutor to Augustus' grandsonGaius Caesar, until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign.[6] When Augustus' support shifted to his stepsonTiberius, 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 marriedAemilia Lepida, daughter ofQuintus Aemilius Lepidus and sister ofManius Aemilius Lepidus, who had originally been betrothed toLucius Caesar.[7] 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.[8]
After the banishment of the ethnarchHerod Archelaus in 6 AD,Judaea (the conglomeration ofSamaria,Judea andIdumea) came under direct Roman administration, withCoponius appointed asprefect. At the same time, Quirinius was appointedLegate of Syria, with instructions to assess Judea Province for taxation purposes.[9] One of his first duties was tocarry out a census as part of this order.[10]
The Jews already hated their pagan conquerors, and censuses were forbidden under Jewish law.[11] The assessment was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of thehigh priestJoazar.[12] Despite efforts to prevent revolt, the census did trigger the revolt ofJudas of Galilee and the formation of the party of theZealots, according toJosephus[13] and of which Luke speaks in theActs of the Apostles.[14]
There is a reference to Quirinius in theGospel of Lukechapter 2, which mentions thebirth ofJesus alongside a reference to the time of theCensus of Quirinius, a reference which is widely held to contradict the time of Jesus' birth described in theGospel of Matthew during the reign ofHerod the Great, who died in the year 4 BC.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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 ofTiberius. Nine years later he died and was given a public funeral.
The earliest known mention of his name is in an inscription from 14 AD discovered in Antioch Pisidia known asRes 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."[18] 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.[19]
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 theBattle of Actium) confirmed his position there.[20] The census that he conducted in Syria has been confirmed by an inscription on theStele of Quintus Aemilius Secundus[21] purchased inBeirut 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".[20]
The Roman historianTacitus wrote in hisAnnals 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 ..."[22][self-published source?] The Jewish historian Josephus wrote in more detail about the census of Judea around 6 AD that Quirinius undertook as the governor of Syria.[23]
Thus in 6 or 7 AD, Augustus commissioned the newly appointed Legate of Syria, Quirinius, to carry out the census
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| Preceded by | Consul of theRoman Empire 12 BC withMarcus Valerius Messalla Appianus | Succeeded byas Suffect consul |
