Roman Governor of Syria
Quirinius
kwih-RIN-ee-us
The Roman governor of Syria named in Luke's account of the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem — a reference that raises a genuine, long-debated chronological question among historians.
Life and work
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was a Roman senator and military commander who held a series of provincial commands and honors under Augustus, including a consulship in 12 BC and later the governorship of the province of Syria. Josephus records that Quirinius was sent to Syria around AD 6 specifically to oversee the annexation of Judea as a Roman province after Augustus deposed Herod Archelaus, and that he conducted a census there for taxation purposes at that time — a census that provoked a Jewish uprising led by Judas of Galilee (Antiquities 18.1.1).
Luke 2:1-2 places the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem 'while Quirinius was governor of Syria,' during the reign of Herod the Great, whose death is conventionally dated to 4 BC. Since Josephus's securely dated Quirinius census in Judea took place roughly a decade later, in AD 6, this creates a well-known chronological puzzle: how can Luke's census, tied to Herod's reign, coincide with a governorship that Josephus places about ten years after Herod's death?
Historians and biblical scholars have proposed several explanations, none universally accepted. Some argue Quirinius may have held an earlier military command or a first term as legate in Syria before his documented AD 6 governorship, pointing to a fragmentary inscription (the Lapis Tiburtinus) that some have read as referring to an unnamed official governing Syria twice, though the inscription does not name Quirinius and its interpretation is disputed. Others propose that Luke's Greek can be translated 'this was the registration before Quirinius was governor of Syria,' distinguishing an earlier census from the more famous later one. Still others treat the discrepancy as an outright error or a conflation of two events by Luke. This remains a genuinely unresolved question in New Testament scholarship, and this entry does not claim to settle it.
- Occupation
- Roman senator and legate (governor) of the province of Syria
- Places
- Rome and Antioch (the provincial capital of Syria), with military postings across Asia Minor
Extra-biblical evidence
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.1.1 (1-10); 17.13.5 (355)
Josephus describes Quirinius's arrival in Syria around AD 6 to assess and tax the newly annexed province of Judea following Archelaus's deposition, and the resulting census and tax registration that provoked the revolt of Judas of Galilee.
Weight: The primary ancient source establishing Quirinius's documented governorship and census in Judea, though its date does not align with Luke's placement of a census during Herod the Great's reign, which is the source of the scholarly puzzle described above.
Lapis Tiburtinus (Tivoli inscription) CIL XIV 3613, fragmentary, provenance and subject debated
A damaged Latin inscription describing an unnamed Roman official who governed Syria twice and received military honors; some scholars have proposed this refers to an earlier tenure by Quirinius, though the official's name does not survive on the fragment and the identification is contested.
Weight: Highly uncertain as evidence for Quirinius specifically — the inscription is fragmentary, unnamed, and its subject is disputed among historians rather than a confirmed reference to him.
Scripture references
- Luke 2:1-2 — Named as governor of Syria at the time of the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem
Further reading
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