142 A History of Judaism
known not for their ideology but for their tactics. The sicarii were
notorious for urban terrorism, creeping up on victims in crowds and
stabbing them with their short daggers (sicae ) before melting away into
the mêlée. Josephus asserted specifically that the group first appeared in
the early 50s ce in the time of the procurator Felix.
Since Josephus failed to call the followers of the Fourth Philosophy
‘sicarii ’ when he described the philosophy in either of his historical
works, and since he disliked heartily both the sicarii and the Fourth
Philosophy, there would be no reason for him not to give this name to
this form of illegitimate Judaism if that was a name they gave them-
selves. It is probable that the link between the sicarii and Judas of
Galilee was essentially just a family one. Eleazar b. Yair, who led the
defenders of Masada, was only one of a number of Judas’ descendants
to cause trouble for the Roman authorities in the first century ce. How
many of these descendants subscribed to the Fourth Philosophy is
unknown.^53
Zealots
Among the other types of Judaism described in Josephus’ histories was
another group opposed to Rome, separate from the sicarii and with a
clearer group identity than the adherents of the Fourth Philosophy. The
Zealots, we are told by Josephus in disgust, were a group of brigands
who took on this name in the spring of 68 ce when they invaded the
Temple in Jerusalem: ‘for so they called themselves, as though they were
zealots in the cause of virtue and not vice in its basest and most extrav-
agant form’. These Zealots were to play a major role first in the ensuing
civil war between the factions in Jerusalem over the next two years, and
then in the final defence of the city against the assault of Roman forces.
In 68 ce they took control of the Temple from the government led by
the Sadducee Ananus b. Ananus, whom they accused, with some justifi-
cation, of insufficient vigour in prosecuting the war. Opposition by
Ananus led to open warfare around the Temple site:
The people too now clamoured for him to lead them against the foe whom
he urged them to attack, each man fully ready to brave the first danger. But
while Ananus was enlisting and marshalling efficient recruits, the Zealots
hearing of the projected attack ... were furious, and dashed out of the
Temple, in regiments and smaller units, and spared none who fell in their