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The Roman Census never required people to travel to their homeland. That would be quite counterproductive as the practical purpose of census-taking was the calc
by dralley 6y ago
The Roman Census never required people to travel to their homeland. That would be quite counterproductive as the practical purpose of census-taking was the calculation of taxes, which requires an enumeration of property.
The bible's account of Roman census' is seemingly not accurate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Quirinius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Census_of_Quirinius
- solidsnack9000 6y agoPerhaps it required them to travel to a nearby town and this detail was dramatised greatly. EDIT: Actually, no, the censors went from house to house: https://history.stackexchange.com/a/23980 https://history.stackexchange.com/a/23980
- mamon 6y agoUsual explanation is that doing census by place of birth was actually Jewish idea - because the "12 tribes of Israel" concept is so deeply ingrained in their culture, so whey Romans requested census Jewish leaders simply tried to kill two birds with one stone, and Romans didn't really care so they agreed.