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Not to be confused with Quirinus. grandson Gaius Caesar, until the latter died from wounds
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC AD 21) suered on campaign.[5] When Augustus support shifted
to his stepson Tiberius, 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 Marcus Aemil-
ius Lepidus and sister of Manius Aemilius Lepidus, who
had originally been betrothed to Lucius Caesar.[6] Within
a few years they were divorced: in 20 AD he accused her
of claiming that he was her sons 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.[7]
After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus
in 6 AD, Iudaea (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea
and Idumea) came under direct Roman administration
The Virgin and Saint Joseph register for the census before with Coponius appointed as prefect. At the same time,
Governor Quirinius. Byzantine mosaic at the Chora Church,
Quirinius was appointed Legate of Syria, with instruc-
Constantinople 131520.
tions to assess Iudea Province for taxation purposes.[8]
One of his rst duties was to carry out a census as part
was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the of this order.[9]
ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea
in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of The Jews already hated their pagan conquerors, and cen-
Syria, to which the province of Iudaea had been added suses were forbidden under Jewish law. The assessment
for the purpose of a census.[1] The most famous mention was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was pre-
[10]
of Quirinius occurs in the Gospel of Luke, which dates vented only by the eorts of the high priest Joazar. De-
the birth of Jesus by the Census of Quirinius. spite eorts to prevent revolt, the census did trigger the
revolt of Judas of Galilee and the formation of the party
of the Zealots, according to Josephus.[11]
1 Life The most famous mention of Quirinius occurs in the
Gospel of Luke, which links the birth of Jesus to the time
of the Census of Quirinius.
Born into an undistinguished family in the neighbor-
hood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome, Quirinius Quirinius served as governor of Syria with nominal au-
followed the normal pathway of service for an ambi- thority over Iudaea until 12 AD, when he returned to
tious young man of his social class. According to Rome as a close associate of Tiberius. Nine years later
the Roman historian Florus, Quirinius defeated the he died and was given a public funeral.
Marmaridae, a tribe of desert raiders from Cyrenaica,
possibly while governor of Crete and Cyrene around
14 BC, but nonetheless declined the honoric name 2 See also
Marmaricus.[2] In 12 BC he was named consul, a sign
that he enjoyed the favour of Augustus.
Sulpicia (gens)
From 12 1 BC, he led a campaign against the Homon-
adenses, a tribe based in the mountainous region of Census of Quirinius
Galatia and Cilicia, around 5 3 BC, probably as legate
of Galatia. He won the campaign by reducing their
strongholds and starving out the defenders.[3] For this vic- 3 References
tory, he was awarded a triumph and elected as duumvir
by the colony of Pisidian Antioch.[4]
[1] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, Chapter
By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed rector to Augustus 1: Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now
1
2 4 EXTERNAL LINKS
added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their Jewish Encyclopedia: QUIRINIUS, P. SULPICIUS
substance ...
Josephus Jewish Antiquities 18
[2] Erich S. Gruen, The Expansion of the Empire under Au-
gustus in The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume X: The
Augustan Empire, 43 BC AD 69, (Cambridge University
Press, 1996) page 168.
4 External links
Livius.org: Publius Sulpicius Quirinius
3
5.2 Images
File:Meister_der_Kahriye-Cami-Kirche_in_Istanbul_005.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/
Meister_der_Kahriye-Cami-Kirche_in_Istanbul_005.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke
der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Original artist: Meister der
Kahriye-Cami-Kirche in Istanbul