Quirinius

Mary and Joseph register for the census before Governor Quirinius. Byzantine mosaic at the Chora Church, Constantinople 1315–1320.

Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius,[1] was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Judaea had been added for the purpose of a census.[2]

  1. ^ King James Version of Luke 2:2, a back-transliteration of the Greek Κυρήνιος.
  2. ^ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XVIII, Chapter 1: "Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance ..."