ERODIANI (ἘΡΔΟΔΑΙΝΟΊ)

HERODIANS (Ἐρδοδαινοί). — Named together with the Pharisees in Mt 22:16 and in Mt 3:6; 12:13. They were not a religious sect: Flavius Josephus considers only the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots as such; he uses a similar name, Ἐρδοδαινοί, to indicate the partisans of Herod the Great in contrast to those of Antigonus (Ἀντιγονεῖον) in the war of 39–37 BC. It is therefore probable that the name Herodians used in the Gospels refers to soldiers or partisans of the tetrarch Herod Antipas. There is no evidence that this name was used to designate the anti-Roman political party that dreamed of the restoration of the kingdom of Herod the Great.