THE INHABITED [LAND] — a participle used as a noun, and in Roman mouths a piece of self-description: the empire, spoken of as if it were the world. ⚠ Luke 2:1 has Augustus decree a registration of 'all the oikoumenē', which the versions render 'all the world'. That is what the decree claimed; it is not geography, and Luke is quoting the register's own language. → first discussed at Luke 2:1