ARCHÆOLOGICAL LIGHT ON THE ENROLMENT OF QUIRINIUS
TRANSLATION OF A PAPYRUS SHOWING THAT IN THE SECOND CENTURY ENROLMENT
WAS MADE EVERY FOURTEEN YEARS. COMMENTS. TRANSLATION REFERRING TO AN
ENROLMENT IN THE REIGN OF NERO. FRAGMENT FROM THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS.
ENROLMENTS PROBABLY INAUGURATED BY AUGUSTUS. DOCUMENT SHOWING THAT
PEOPLE WENT TO THEIR OWN TOWNS FOR ENROLMENT. INSCRIPTION SUPPOSED TO
REFER TO QUIRINIUS. INSCRIPTION FROM ASIA MINOR REFERRING TO
QUIRINIUS. DISCUSSION. CONCLUSIONS.
Archæological research has recently thrown much light upon the census of
Quirinius mentioned in Luke 2:1-5. The evidence has come in part from
ancient records on papyri which have been dug up in Egypt, some of which
are herewith translated.
The following extract from a large papyrus establishes the fact that a
census or an assessment-list was made in the Roman empire every fourteen
years.
=1. Papyrus Showing Enrolment Every Fourteen Years.=[607]
After the death of my wife Aphrodite, or, as she was called by some,
Aphroditoute, having departed from the district of Herakles and
Sabinos, I enrolled the other children who dwell with Mysthes who is
called Ninnos, who was 33 years old, and after the others, the wife of
my son Mysthes who is called Ninnos, viz.:--Zozime, freed-woman of
Ptolemaios Ammoniarios, daughter of Marion Geomytha, and was 22 years
old, (who was living with her mistress, in the enrolment of the 9th
year; at the time of the enrolment she [Zozime] was living in the
Greek quarter, but has now moved into the neighboring quarter of
Apolloneios Hierax) and the children of these two, Ammonios, aged 5,
and Didymos, aged 4, and Aut ........, were not otherwise enrolled in
the enrolment in the first year of the Emperor Cæsar Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus Augustus and the Emperor Cæsar Lucius Aurelius Verus
Augustus, on the thirtieth of Payni [_i. e._, June 24, 161 A. D.]. To
Potomon, governor of the Arsinoite district of Herakles, and
Asclepiades, the royal census-taker, and Agathos Daimon and Dioskoros,
census-takers of the metropolis, on behalf of Mysthes who is called
Ninnos, Mysthes, son of Philo, whose mother is Herais, daughter of
Ammoniosone, of the citizens of the metropolis, who are enrolled from
the quarter of Apolloneios Hierax: there belongs to me in the district
of Ammonios 1/12 part of the place called Nekpherotios, in which I
enroll myself and my household for the current enrolment of the 14th
year according to the household enrolment, as also I enrolled myself
according to the household enrolment in the 23rd year of Antoninus
(_i. e._, 160-161 A. D.); I am also Mysthes who is also called Ninnos;
the one enrolled is 59 years old, and his wife, Zozime, the
freed-woman of Ammoniarios, daughter of Marion, who was enrolled in
the household enrolment of the 23rd year in the same quarter, is 38
years old, and the children of those two, ........ not enrolled in the
enrolments, 11 years old, and likewise Dioskoros 10 (?) years old, and
likewise ........, 9 years old, and a daughter, Isidora, 8 years old:
thus I make my deposition. 15th year of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus Cæsar, the lord. Intercalary Mesore: (_i. e._, the end of
August, 175 A. D.).
This papyrus, dated in the year 175 A. D., is very important as it proves
that the census came every fourteen years. The enrolment mentioned at the
end of it was made in connection with the census of 174-175 A. D., since
the document is dated in August of the year 175. The enrolment mentioned
about the middle of the document was the enrolment of 160-161 A. D. That
was dated in the summer of 161. The one mentioned near the beginning of
the quotation as having been made in the 9th year must refer to the census
of the year 146-147, and the 9th year of Antoninus Pius, which was the
year 147. The proof that the census was taken every fourteen years[608] is
of the greatest importance to our subject, as will appear below.
This enrolment was made by one Mysthes Ninnos on behalf of his son, who
was also called Mysthes Ninnos, the wife of the son who was a freed-woman,
called Zozime, and their children, who were the grandchildren of the man
making the enrolment. Mysthes Ninnos, the grandfather, had been married
twice. His first wife was named Aphrodite; after her death he married
Herais, the mother of the son, Mysthes Ninnos.
=2. Translation Referring to an Enrolment in the Reign of Nero.=[609]
Copy of an enrolment of Ammonios and ...... ios, the gymnasiarch and
librarian of the public library in the city of Arsinoe, in the
presence of Pa ...... xineos ...... Paesios, son of Myo, priest of
those who are from Karanis of the district of Heracles. According to
the commands through the most excellent governor, Lucius Julius
Vestinus, I have enrolled today my goods which are free from debt and
mortgage and lien; in the neighboring village, a third part of my
father’s house and courtyard, and places cleared of abodes, two lots
of a half acre each, which were bought from Mesoereus, son of
Nekpherōs, in the fifth year of Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus
Germanicus, Emperor, and a house in the village, which was bought from
Onnophreus, son of Peteoræpeus, in the sixth year of Nero Claudius
Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, Emperor. Whatever I make from these or buy
in addition I will first report as it shall occur.
The date of this document, which is only a copy, is not given, but as it
refers to two transactions in real estate, which were dated respectively
in the 5th and 6th years of Nero, and as that monarch’s reign began in
October of the year 54 A. D., it is probable that this is a copy of an
enrolment made in connection with the census of 62-63 A. D. This proves
that the system of taking the census once in fourteen years was in
operation as early as the reign of Nero.
=3. Fragment from the Reign of Tiberius.=[610]
To Eutychides and Theon, local census-takers and village
census-takers, from Horion and Petosiris, priest of Isis, the most
great goddess, of the temple called the Two Brothers in the city of
Oxyrhynchus on the street Myrobalanos, near the Serapeum. Those who
live in the house which belongs to me and my wife Tasis and to
Taurius, son of Harbichis, and to Papontos, son of Nechthesorios, and
to Thæchemere, in the house which is near the aforesaid temple of the
Two Brothers are as follows:
The papyrus at this point becomes too mutilated for further translation.
The importance of this document is revealed by an examination of the names
of the officers, Eutychides and Theon. Another papyrus from the same
place, which contains a notice of a removal, is dated in the 6th year of
the Emperor Tiberius.[611] As these officers were still in office when
this census was taken, this must be the census of the year 20-21 A. D.
=4. Enrolments Probably Inaugurated by Augustus.=
Another papyrus contains a list of people who were exempt from poll-tax in
the 41st year of the reign of Augustus.[612] As the poll-tax was
intimately connected with the census, it is altogether probable that the
census was inaugurated by Augustus. As he became emperor in 27 B. C. and
at once proceeded to organize his empire, the census may have begun early
in his reign. If there was one in 20 A. D. there would be one in 6 A. D.,
9-8 B. C., and possibly in 23-22 B. C. If there was not one in 23-22, that
in 9-8 B. C. would be the first. This is the one to which reference is
made in Luke 2:2. If the birth of Jesus occurred at the time of this
census, it must have been earlier than we usually suppose. Ramsay thinks
that the taking of the census in Judah may have been delayed till 7 or 6
B. C., on account of Jewish prejudices.
=5. Document Showing that People Went to Their Own Towns for Enrolment.=
In connection with the census of Quirinius it is stated in Luke 2:3: “All
went to enroll themselves, every one to his own city.” This has been felt
by many scholars to be an improbable statement, and has been cited as an
evidence of the unhistorical character of the whole story of the census in
Luke. In this connection part of a papyrus discovered in Egypt, which is
dated in the 7th year of the Emperor Trajan, 103-104 A. D., is of great
interest. This document contains three letters. The third of the letters
is the one which relates to our subject. It is as follows:[613]
Gaius Vibius, chief prefect of Egypt. Because of the approaching
census it is necessary that all those residing for any cause away from
their own homes, should at once prepare to return to their own
governments, in order that they may complete the family administration
of the enrolment, and that the tilled lands may retain those belonging
to them. Knowing that your city has need of provisions from the
country, I wish .......... (At this point the papyrus becomes too
fragmentary for connected translation.)
It is perfectly clear that in Egypt the enrolment was done on the basis of
kinship. The word rendered “family” above [συνήθη] means “kindred” in the
larger sense. The phrase rendered “belonging to” [them, _i. e._, the
tilled lands] also means “kindred.” It appears, then, that in Egypt the
enrolment of each district was intended to include all the kinsmen
belonging to that district, and that, lest those residing elsewhere should
forget to return home for the census, proclamations were issued directing
them to do so. It is well known that in many respects the customs of
administration in Syria and Egypt were similar. Luke’s statement, that
Joseph went up from Nazareth to Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
lineage of David, to enroll himself with Mary (Luke 2:4, 5), turns out to
be in exact accord with the governmental regulations as we now know them
from the papyri.
=6. Inscription Supposed to Refer to Quirinius.=
A fragmentary inscription found at Rome in 1828 is thought by Mommsen and
others to prove that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, and that the
governorship to which Josephus refers (_Antiquities_, XVII, i, 1), which
was coincident with the deposition of Archelaus in 6 A. D., was his
second appointment. The inscription as filled out by Mommsen and others
reads:[614]
[P. Sulpicius Quirinius, consul ..........; as proconsul obtained
Crete and Cyrene as a province ..........; as legate of the divine
Augustus, obtaining Syria and Phœnicia he waged war with the tribe of
Homonadenses who had killed Amyntas the k]ing; when he returned into
the domi[nion of the Emperor Cæsar] Augustus and the Roman people, the
senate [decreed] thanksgivings [to the immortal gods] on account of
the two success[ful accomplishments] and triumphal ornaments to him;
as proconsul he ob[tained] Asia as a province; as the legate of the
divine Augustus he [obtained] again Syria and Phœnicia.
If this inscription were intact its evidence would be decisive, but
unfortunately it is only a fragment, and the name of Quirinius is just
that which has to be supplied from other inscriptions. That so eminent a
scholar as Mommsen thought that this name was the one which once began the
inscription is of weight, but it does not compensate for the loss of the
name.
=7. Inscription from Asia Minor Referring to Quirinius.=[615]
The following inscription, discovered by Prof. Ramsay and Mr. J. G. C.
Anderson, of Oxford, is believed by Ramsay to prove that Quirinius was
governor of Syria between 10 and 7 B. C.
To Gaius Caristanius
(son of Gaius of the Sergian tribe) Fronto
Caesianus Juli[us],
Chief of engineers, pontifex,
priest, prefect of P. Sulpicius Quirinius duumvir,
prefect of M. Servilius.
To him first of all men
at public expense by decree of the decuriones,
a statue was erected.
This inscription was found at Antioch, a fortified colony in southeastern
Phrygia or southern Galatia, in the year 1912. The name Caristanius
connects its erection with the time of the Hamonadian war, 10-7 B. C. That
Quirinius received the honor of an election to the office of honorary
duumvir of the colony at this time, is held by Ramsay to prove that he had
been sent to Syria as governor, and had been military commander in the war
against the Hamonades. It was the benefits which accrued to the little
colony of Antioch from his victories in this war, which led to the
election and the erection of this statue. Ramsay, accordingly, holds that
this inscription proves Quirinius to have been governor of Syria about
11-7 B. C., and this confirms the statement of Luke 2:2, that the census
at the time when Jesus was born was the first enrolment, when Quirinius
was governor of Syria.
One objection to this theory is that from other sources (Josephus,
_Antiquities_, XVI, x, 8; xi, 3), it appears that Sentius Saturninus was
governor of Syria at this time, _i. e._, from 9-7 B. C., just at the time
when, according to the papyri, the census should occur. This is supported
by a statement of Tertullian, that Jesus was born when Saturninus was
governor of Syria. To meet this objection, Ramsay supposes either that the
authority of Quirinius and of Saturninus overlapped, the former being
military commander and the latter civil governor, or that Quirinius ruled
until about July 1st of the year 8, the census year, and Saturninus then
took office. These are, however, mere possibilities. We have not yet clear
information concerning these points.
Later, in 6 A. D., Quirinius was sent out to Syria again (see Tacitus,
_Annales_, III, 48), and took over as governor of Syria the kingdom of
Judah on the deposition of Archelaus, and conducted the census there of
6-7 A. D. (See Josephus, _Antiquities_, XVIII, i.) Many scholars have held
that Luke confused this governorship with earlier events and was
accordingly in error as to his chronology by at least ten years, but the
archæological facts here collected tend to corroborate Luke’s accuracy on
this point. It should be added that Luke knew that Quirinius had charge of
the census in Palestine in 6 A. D., as Josephus states, for he says: “This
was the first enrolment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.”
=8. Conclusions.=
It should in all candor be noted just what archæology has proved
concerning this matter, and what points are still, from the archæological
side, outstanding. It has proved that the census was a periodic occurrence
once in fourteen years, that this system was in operation as early as 20
A. D., and that it was customary for people to go to their ancestral
abodes for enrolment. It has made it probable that the census system was
established by Augustus, and that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice,
though these last two points are not yet fully established by
archæological evidence. So far as the new material goes, however, it
confirms the narrative of Luke.