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COIN OF PUBLIUS QUINCTILIUS VARUS, Roman Governor of Syria 7-6 BC under Augustus


This coin was minted in Antioch around the time of Christ's birth. The difficulty with the canonical gospels is that it places the time of the birth of Jesus, before the death of Herod the Great, which by most sources was in 4 BC. Errors in translation or perhaps confusion with the name of Quinctilius with Quirinius may be the issue. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6-7 AD. Cassius Dio reports there were census prior to 6 AD but little is known about them.


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