Judas of Galilee

Judas of Galilee (also called a Gaulonite of Gamala by Josephus) led a popular revolt against Rome at the time of the census conducted under Quirinius the governor of Syria in A.D. 6. He taught that submission to the Roman census and taxation was an act of treason against God, the sole king of Israel, and gathered a large following. The revolt was suppressed and Judas himself was killed.

He is mentioned by Gamaliel in his speech before the Sanhedrin as a cautionary example of a failed messianic movement: "Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered" (Acts 5:37). Josephus identifies his followers — the Zealots and Sicarii — as his ideological descendants who continued his anti-Roman ideology up to the Jewish War of A.D. 66–70.