Publius Sulpicius Quirinius was a Roman statesman and military commander who served as a consul in 12 BC and as a governor of Syria from 6 BC to 4 AD. He is best known for his role in the census of Judea that took
From Wikipedia
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Judaea had been added for census purposes.