Quirinius

Roman governor of Syria at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:2). According to the Roman historian Tacitus (Annals 3.48), Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was elected consul of Syria in 12 BC. He was appointed around 7 BC, along with Varus, legatus (or governor) of Syria. His duties were in military and foreign affairs. Varus handled civil matters. Quirinius's first term as governor lasted several years. He led a successful expedition against the Homonadenses. They were a rebellious group of mountaineers in Asia Minor's Cilician province. He also oversaw an empire-wide census ordered by Caesar Augustus. Luke records that Jesus’s birth took place at the time of this first enrollment “while Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:2). Matthew says it was during the reign of King Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1), presumably in 4 BC.

Quirinius became rector to Gaius Caesar in 1 BC. He married Aemilia Ledipa in AD 2, but later divorced her. In AD 6, he was reappointed legatus of Syria, perhaps serving in this position for a couple of years. In this second administration Quirinius again supervised a census of Judea. The second census was not done according to Jewish custom, as was the first. The second census taxed the Jews as a subservient people to Rome. This caused Jewish opposition and rebellion against Rome. This is probably the census referred to by the Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities 17.13.5) and Gamaliel (Acts 5:37).