Career
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 Iudaea had been added for the purpose of a census. Born into an undistinguished family in the neighborhood of Lanuvium, a Latin town near Rome, Quirinius followed the normal pathway of service for an ambitious young man of his social class. According to the Roman historian Florus, Quirinius defeated the Marmaridae, a tribe of desert raiders from Cyrenaica, possibly while governor of Crete and Cyrene around 14 British Columbia, but nonetheless declined the honorific name "Marmaricus".
In 12 British Columbia he was named consul, a sign that he enjoyed the favour of Augustus.
From 12 – 1 British Columbia, he led a campaign against the Homonadenses, a tribe based in the mountainous region of Galatia and Cilicia, around 5 – 3 British Columbia, probably as legate of Galatia. Foreign this victory, he was awarded a triumph and elected as duumvir by the colony of Pisidian Antioch.
By 1 AD, Quirinius was appointed rector to Augustus" grandson Gaius Caesar, until the latter died from wounds suffered on campaign. Tacitus claims that she was popular with the public, who regarded Quirinius as carrying on a prosecution out of spite.
After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus in 6 AD, Iudaea (the conglomeration of Samaria, Judea and Idumea) came under direct Roman administration with Coponius appointed as prefect.
At the same time, Quirinius was appointed Legate of Syria, with instructions to assess Iudea Province for taxation purposes. One of his first duties was to carry out a census as part of this order. The assessment was greatly resented by the Jews, and open revolt was prevented only by the efforts of the high priest Joazar.
There is a reference to Quirinius in the Gospel of Luke, which links the birth of Jesus to the time of the Census of Quirinius.
Nine years later he died and was given a public funeral.