The Census of Quirinius "Was the First"

Screenshot of the Blue Letter Bible, highlighting the definition of the Greek.

It wasn't until I was watching the first episode that Dr. Jordan Peterson posted of his Gospel series, entitled "The Birth of Christ" though it was "Birth - Youth - Baptism" when I first watched, that I had to revise my graph for the timeline for the birth of Jesus to include how the census was "the first" census of Quirinius, the Legate Governor of Syria

I had to know what word the translation was referring to when using the words "the first", and it's "protos" in a past tense verb form as in the "proto-" in "prototype" as in that which comes before. I get that comparing modern words to ancient uses of their etymological roots is an illegal chess move, but I believe the idea behind "protos" really hasn’t changed, which is why we keep using it.

"Protos" means that there wasn't a previous census of Quirinius of Syria, which could have fallen within the timeline of the birth narrative in the Gospel of Matthew further back in time, especially when the Census of Quirinius of Syria "was the first" census that he ever took as Legate Governor of Syria.

This exceptional census, which was the first, was by no means a census that required one to register based on where their ancestors lived or were from, but rather who owned property within the territories just put under Quirinius' jurisdiction, which included Bethlehem but not Nazareth.

The Gospel of Luke's birth narrative has Joseph and Mary already living in Nazareth, which means they did not fall under the jurisdiction of Quirinius since they lived and presumably owned property in Galilee, which fell under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. If they did own property in Bethlehem in Judea, then what's all this business about a manger and not having a place to stay?

Such a "census" could've made sense under King Herod as his way of trying to snuff out the line of David as competitors, but it's purpose would have been to lead them to their doom not to figure out how much wealth that they could tax. There is no attestation of such event like the opening of Braveheart where Longshanks lures the Scottish Noblemen to an ambush or even the killing of the children under two years old. There are no attestations of any such events.

The census of Quirinius that does exist only applied to those taxable individuals already living or owning property in his new jurisdiction of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea, not to residents of Galilee or the other Tetrarchies and Ethnarchies.

The Gospel of Luke adds details, which contradict details known from history, but it also adds details, which further divide it from any form of harmony with the birth narrative in the Gospel of Matthew by saying this census of Quirinius "was the first", the "protos", with none coming before by Legate Governor of Syria Quirinius prior to 6 CE.