Sadducees

Sadducees
צְדוּקִים
Historical leaders
Founded167 BCE
Dissolved73 CE
HeadquartersJerusalem
Ideology
ReligionHellenistic Judaism

The Sadducees (/ˈsædjəsz/; Hebrew: צְדוּקִים, romanizedṢəḏūqīm, lit.'Zadokites') were a sect of Jews active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are described in contemporary literary sources in contrast to the two other major sects at the time, the Pharisees and the Essenes.

Josephus, writing at the end of the 1st century CE, associates the sect with the upper echelons of Judean society.[1] As a whole, they fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple in Jerusalem. The group became extinct sometime after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

  1. ^ "The Antiquities of the Jews (13.298)". Lexundria. ...while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side.