And It Came To Pass... Trivia Quiz

Answer: Gaius Octavius

Gaius Octavius was born in 63 BC to Gaius Octavius, a Roman politician, and Atia, the niece of Julius Caesar. Octavius was Caesar's grand-nephew, adopted son, and heir. Octavius was only 18 when Caesar was assassinated, and joined with Caesar's best friend, Marc Antony, to avenge his death. After Antony left Rome to be with Cleopatra and divorced Octavius' sister, the uneasy truce between the two men ended. Caesar Augustus was the title that Octavian was given in 27 BC after defeating Marc Anthony and Cleopatra. It means "Exalted One". His reign began the Empire Period in Roman history, and Rome continued to be ruled by an emperor until its fall in 476 AD. After Octavius died, other emperors used the title "Augustus".

Luke the Evangelist is credited with writing the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. He is believed to have been a Greek physician, who was a follower of Paul. While he wrote that he was not an eyewitness to any events in Christ's life, Christians put a lot of faith and trust in the fact that his accounts were accurate. No pressure there, Luke!

Answer: False

This is a rather broad statement. Rome was the first city in the world to reach a population of one million people, and that occurred in approximately 1 AD before Luke was born. After the Punic Wars (264 BC-146) the empire had steadily grown in size, but didn't reach its peak until 117 AD, when it controlled approximately 5 million square kilometers and had a population of about 20% of the world's population at the time. Other large empires of note at the time in the general area were the Parthian Empire in modern-day Iran, and the Western Han Empire in China.

So what exactly did Luke mean by his statement? If he was talking about the world that he himself knew, then, yes, the decrees applied to everyone in the Roman empire. It is highly unlikely, however, that even the great Romans could pull off a census where everyone in the empire was counted at the same time.

Answer: registration of the people

First we must look at the terminology used in different translations because they are not in agreement. The King James Version uses the word "taxed", while the Revised Standard Version uses the world "enrolled". The New International Version uses the word "census", while it is the English Standard Version that uses the word "register". So what does registering the people mean? It is most likely that Caesar Augustus wished to count the people in Judea, as its status had recently been moved from one of a client king to that of a Roman province. Was it likely that the counting would result in taxes?

Yes. At the time Rome did not directly tax client kingdoms, but the subsequent Jewish revolts led by Judas of Galilee in 4 BC and 6 AD suggest this was not the case in Judea. Fearing that the census would lead to taxation, Judas of Galilee encouraged the people NOT to register. This set off a chain of events that would lead to a terrible defeat for the Jews against the Romans after the war from 66-73 AD. After these wars, Emperor Vespasian levied the Fiscus Judaicus tax on all Jews throughout the Roman Empire. Those who paid the tax did not have to pay homage to the Roman gods.

It is known that Caesar Augustus issued three decrees as Roman emperor that were similar to the one described in Luke - in 28 BC, 8 BC, and 14 AD.

Answer: Cyrenius

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the Romans made Judea a province in 6 AD. Quirinius (Cyrenius) was the Legate or Governor of Syria who was charged with the conducting of a census. In fact, the census is often called the Census of Quirinius. And herein lies the main problem.

The dates don't exactly line up correctly. Quirinius was not the Governor of Syria during the times when scholars believe the census took place. It appears that the census took place in 6 AD, which is not the date traditionally assigned to the birth of Christ.

While some believe that Quirinius could have had a previous term as Legate, others tend to doubt Luke's accuracy in reporting the events that led to the birth of Christ.

Answer: True

In the city of Rome the census was originally held on public land called the Campus Martius every five years. All citizens were called upon to present themselves, which they did according to the tribes that had been created by the legendary Romulus. The men would present their family and then give an account of what they owned. Of course, this was easy in the early years when Rome was just the city. As the Roman empire expanded, it was not possible to make everyone come to Rome. The censors and those who worked with them were the ones who traveled to the different provinces where a similar accounting took place.

Some sources claim that the Romans would never have required people to travel to be counted (as Joseph and Mary did), as Roman law stated that people were expected to register in the town where they owned land. In Egypt, however, a census was taken every fourteen years by the Romans which required the people to return to their ancestral home. Perhaps the system was applied differently in the provinces, or there was another factor that prompted the census as described by Luke. Micah 5:2 contains a prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Answer: Servius Tullius

Servius Tullius, who ruled in the 6th century BC, was one of the Seven Legendary Kings of Rome, who was credited with beginning the census in Rome. It was fairly easy then, as the Latins had recently overthrown the Etruscans to take over the city of Rome and rule themselves. So the first census likely just involved the people who lived in Rome. It was extremely important at that time because it kept track of who was who, so to speak. Sure it kept track of property and the like, but it also sorted out those who were privileged - the patricians and those who were not - the plebeians. When the census was taken, every person in Rome had to present his family, etc., and that is how it continued as the Romans expanded their influence throughout Italy.

While much ado might be made about the mighty Romans and their exorbitant taxes, they really did not tax their people that much. In fact, taxes were considered to be very modest, and sometimes the Roman treasury would actually issue refunds. There were times after great conquests when the Roman citizens were not taxed at all, and collections were made in the provinces - not from individuals, but from entire communities.

Answer: Censor

The office of the censor in ancient Rome dates to approximately 443 BC, when the duty of taking the census was taken from the consuls and given to officials called censors. Because the Romans had the tradition of having two leaders (consuls) during the Republic, they also had two censors.

Their power was absolute, and the decisions of one could only be voided by the other - again, like the consuls. At first their term of office was five years, but it was changed to eighteen months. The office was continuously held from 443 BC-22 BC; the duties were carried out by emperors after that.

The censors were also charged with enforcing public morality and had some duties that were connected to government finances.

Answer: Bethlehem

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David)". Luke and Matthew, which tell the events of the Christmas story, both state that Joseph was from David's lineage, but Luke says it was through David's son, Nathan, while Matthew says it was from David's son, Solomon. Bethlehem, however, was the birthplace of King David, so Joseph and Mary had to make the journey of about 70 miles to Bethlehem according to the Roman decree.

Answer: Tributum capitis

The tributum capitis was a poll tax that was levied on those in the provinces who were not Roman citizens. Obviously there was a need to keep the census updated so there was an accurate accounting of what was owed. There were some provincial towns that enjoyed the status of Ius Italicum, which meant they were exempt from taxation. Interestingly, when Caracalla granted citizenship to all those who lived in the Roman Empire in 212, he did not do away with the tributum capitis.

Except for farmers, doctors, and teachers, all products and services were taxed according to the Collatio lustralis. The Aesuxorium taxed those who remained unmarried, as long as it was expected that they could produce offspring, and the Vicesima hereditatium was an inheritance tax on those who were not close relatives of the deceased.

Answer: 4 BC

This concept may be a bit difficult to grasp, as we all have learned that the Gregorian calendar (1582) was based on the year Christ was born. By all accounts this should be 1 AD (Anno Domini), which means in the year of the Lord. There is no year zero.

This idea is credited to Dionysius Exiguus, a 5th century AD monk, who is believed to have chosen the date based on Luke's account that Jesus was about 30 years old after the fifteen year of the reign of Tiberiaus Caesar (Luke 3:23). Modern scholars, however, believe that Exiguus made a mistake in his calculations, and a more correct year of birth would be somewhere between 6 BC-4 BC. Why? King Herod played an important part in the story of Christ's birth.

He is believed to have died sometime around 4 BC, so according to both the gospels of Matthew and Luke, Christ had to have been born before Herod's death.