Sadducees

Sadducees צְדוּקִים‎
Historical leaders	Unknown
Founded	167 BCE
Dissolved	73 CE
Headquarters	Jerusalem
Ideology	Written Torah
Religion	Hellenistic Judaism

The Sadducees (/ˈsædʒəˌsiːz, ˈsædjə-/; Hebrew: צְדוּקִים‎ Ṣĕḏûqîm) were a sect or group of Jews that was active in Judea during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society. As a whole, the sect fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes. Their sect is believed to have become extinct some time after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, but it has been speculated that the later Karaites may have had some roots in – or connections with – Sadducean views.

According to Abraham Geiger, the Sadducee sect of Judaism drew their name from Zadok, the first High Priest of ancient Israel to serve in the First Temple, with the leaders of the sect proposed as the Kohanim (Priests, the "sons of Zadok", descendant of Eleazar, son of Aaron).

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