Roman censor

The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.

The censors' regulation of public morality is the origin of the modern meaning of the words "censor" and "censorship".

Early history of the magistracy

The census was first instituted by Servius Tullius, sixth king of Rome. After the abolition of the monarchy and the founding of the Republic, the consuls had responsibility for the census until 443 BC. In 442 BC, no consuls were elected, but tribunes with consular power were appointed instead; this was a move by the plebeians to try to attain higher magistracies: only patricians could be elected consuls, while some military tribunes were plebeians. To avoid the possibility of plebeians obtaining control of the census, the patricians removed the right to take the census from the consuls and tribunes, and appointed for this duty two magistrates, called censores (censors), elected exclusively from the patricians in Rome.

Census of Quirinius

The Census of Quirinius was a census of Judaea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, Roman governor of Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE.

The census

In 6 CE Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (51 BCE-21 CE), a distinguished soldier and former Consul, was appointed Imperial Legate (governor) of the province of Roman Syria. In the same year Judea was declared a Roman province, and Quirinius was tasked to carry out a census of the new territory for tax purposes. The census sparked a rebellion, and while the majority of Judeans were eventually persuaded by the High Priest to participate, those who still resisted formed the nucleus of the Zealot movement.

The new territory was one of the three portions into which the kingdom of Herod the Great was divided on his death in 4 BCE. His son Archelaus was given Judea but complaints of misrule prompted his removal and Judea and Samaria, the core of Herod's former kingdom, were now administered directly by Rome under the general supervision of the governor of Syria. Galilee and other areas remained autonomous.