A little while before Mary’s baby was due to be born it was announced that it was time for a census to be taken in the region. The Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, and the Governor Quirinius, had a system to make sure everyone was counted.
Who was Caesar Augustus?
The answer is he was someone who ‘got things done’ and used his military experience to expand the size of the Roman Empire.
Born Gaius Octavian Thirinus in 63BC he was a friend of Julius Caesar who is probably best known for invading England in 55BC.
He was a man who liked order and detail and was a relatively benevolent military dictator when compared to other Caesars.
He developed a network of roads with an official courier system, established the Praetorian Guard, (a professional army), rebuilt much of Rome and created official police and fire-fighting services for the city.
He also decided the Roman system for taxation needed an overhaul and so required, on a regular basis, different parts of the empire to make a register of the occupants so no-one could avoid paying taxes. One such census took place just before Jesus was born and that is the reason Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem.
This coin, from the time of Augustus, recently sold for £2,300.