Quirinius
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Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (rendered in Greek Κυρήνιος Kyrenios, c. 51 BC - AD 21) was the Roman governor of Syria. According to the Gospel of Luke (2:1-2), Jesus was born during his rule.
Born in the neighborhood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome, his family was rich but lacked political influence. Quirinius served in the Roman army, possibly participating in Caesar's campaign that culminated in the battle of Actium in 31 BC. For the following decade he served in Spain, and upon assuming his first governorship, Quirinius defeated the Marmarici, a tribe of desert raiders, before becoming governor of Crete and Cyrene in 14 BC. In 12 BC he was named a consul in Rome as a favorite of Augustus. Six years afterward he was dispatched to govern Pamphylia-Galatia in the east, where another successful military campaign there earned him honors in Rome.
By AD 1, Quirinius had become chief advisor to Augustus' grandson Gaius Caesar, who died from wounds suffered on campaign. When he saw Augustus' support shift to his stepson Tiberius, he entered the latter's camp of followers. Four years later he became governor of Syria with nominal authority over Judea and served in that posting until AD 12, when he returned to Rome as a close associate of Tiberius. Nine years later Quirinius died and was given a public funeral.
The statement of Luke, however, still puzzles historians, for the Gospel dates the events surrounding the birth of Jesus to the reign of Herod the Great, who by the accounts of Josephus, Strabo, and Tacitus died in 4 BC, nearly ten years before Quirinius became governor of Syria. (Though the dating method they used may of been flawed, see the Herod the Great article for more detail.) Josephus does, however, document a census taken early in Quirinius' term of office.
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