Second Temple World

Pharisees

A lay-pietist movement of teachers who stressed strict observance of Torah as understood through ancestral tradition, and who were respected by the common people.

Sadducees

A priestly, aristocratic party centered on the Temple, who rejected the oral tradition and denied the resurrection.

Essenes

An ascetic, purity-focused movement that withdrew from the Temple establishment, often associated with Qumran.

Zealots

Nationalist Jews who held that YHWH alone was Israel's king and who resisted Roman rule, in places by force.

Herodians

Jews who supported the Herodian dynasty and its alliance with Rome.