ZELOTS, or Zealots. This Name was given to certain Jews who appeared in Judea about the Year 66 of the Vulgar Æra, and four or five Years before the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans. They had the Name of Zealots from that furious and mad Zeal they pretended to have for the Liberty of their Country. They had also at the same time the Name of Sicarii, or Assassins, because of the frequent Butcheries they committed with their short Daggers, called in Latin, Sica. We think ‘em to be the same as the Herodians mentioned in the Gospel:1 See the Articles HERODIANS and GALILEANS. All these kind of People were Followers of Judas the Galilean,2 Author of a fourth Sect among the Jews, different from that of the Pharisees, Sadduces, and Essenians. Josephus3 imputes to the Disciples of Judas all the Calamities that happened to Judea under the Government of Florus, and its entire Destruction by the Roman Armies. See the Article of JUDAS the Galilean, and Josephus, in his 18th Book of the Antiquities, and his whole Work of the Wars of the Jews. See also ZEAL, before.
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