State and Subject teredanddefectivenatureofourevidencethatLukewassimplywrong.^13 At
themosthehascompressedintoasinglemomentaprocessspreadovermany
yearsindifferentplaces.Asithappened,acensuswasgoingoninSyriaany-
way,underQuirinius,whenin..theruleofHerod’ssonArchelauswas
ended, the province of Judaea came into existence, a census was imposed,
tributewasdemanded,andresistanceflaredup,neverfinallytodieawayuntil
itledtothegreatrevoltandthedestructionoftheTemplein...^14 Luke’s
allusionreflectsthereverberationsofthatfirstcensus.So,ofcourse,didthe
questionsabouttributewhichwereputtoJesusinJerusalem.‘‘Thecoinof
thecensus,’’‘‘ofwhomisthisimageandtheinscription?’’‘‘givetoCaesarthe
thingswhichareCaesar’s’’—thelanguageusedperfectlyreflectsaperceived
associationbetweencensus,tribute,coinage,andemperor.^15 Inprinciple,if
indeedpeopleinJudaeadidbelievethattheywerepayingtheirtribute‘‘to
Caesar,’’itisquitecertaintheywerewrong.EvenEgypt,asAugustusclaimed,
was added ‘‘to theimperiumof the Roman people.’’^16 But this mistake, like
variousotherswhichweshalllookat,isilluminatingjustbecauseitisamis-
take.WhethertributedidindeedhavetobepaidinwhatMatthewcalls‘‘the
coinofthecensus,’’andwhichallthreeGospelsidentifyasadenarius—thatis,
specificallyinRomancoins—we,asithappens,donotknow.Buttheimage
andinscriptionhadbeenthereforalltoseesincebeforeActium.
Weaccepttooeasily,withoutsurprise,almostwithoutnotice,thechange
whichhadcomeaboutwithinaveryfewyearsinthecoinageoftheMedi-
terraneanworld.Letmejustrecallthefactsinoutline.Upto..,thir-
teenyearsbeforeActium,thereisnocertaincaseofalivingRomanbeing
portrayed on a Roman coin.The precedent was set by Julius Caesar in ,
followedbyOctavian,Antonius,andLepidus,intheTriumviralperiod.But
allthistimetherewereothercoinissueswhichdidnotportrayanyliving
. SeeP.A.Brunt,‘‘TheRevenuesof Rome,’’JRS():,onpp.–.Note
alsoT.D.Barnes,The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine(),–.
. SeeE.Schürer,Historyof the Jewish People,ed.G.VermesandF.Millar,I(),–
;–.Forthecontinuityoftheresistancemovement,M.Stern‘‘SicariiandZealots,’’
World History of the Jewish People,VIII( ),.CensusinSyria:ILS.
. Mark:–;Math.:–;Luke:–.Forthesignificancetothepopula-
tionoftherepresentationoftheemperor(asopposedtothatofanyshort-terminforma-
tion—orpropaganda—contentofcointypes),seeM.H.Crawford,‘‘RomanImperialCoin
TypesandtheFormationofPublicOpinion,’’inC.N.L.Brooke,I.Stewart,J.G.Pollard,
andT.R.Volk,Studies in Numismatic Method Presented to Philip Grierson(),.
.RG;cf.CILVI:‘‘AegyptoinpotestamempopuliRomaniredacta’’(fromthe
baseoftheobeliskusedforAugustus’sundial,seetextton.);cf.Vell.Pat.,,.