Galilean

A Galilean was an inhabitant of the region of Galilee in northern Palestine. In the New Testament period, Galileans were readily identified by their distinctive Aramaic dialect, which Judeans considered rough or provincial — the accent by which Peter was recognized in the high priest's courtyard on the night of Jesus's arrest (Luke 22:59; Matthew 26:73). The crowd at Pentecost similarly identified the disciples as Galileans by their manner of speech (Acts 2:7).

Jesus himself was a Galilean from Nazareth, and most of his twelve apostles were Galileans from the fishing villages around the Sea of Galilee. The Galilean origin of the earliest disciples was for some an argument against Jesus's messianic claims — the expectation that the Messiah would come from Judea and Bethlehem made Galilee a suspicious provenance (John 7:41). Luke records that certain Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices were brought to Jesus's attention as an occasion for moral reflection (Luke 13:1–2). The Galileans appear throughout the Gospels as the primary human constituency of Jesus's earthly ministry.