Galilean

Generically, a Galilean (/ɡælɪˈliːən/; Hebrew: גלילי; Ancient Greek: Γαλιλαίων, romanized: galilaíōn; Latin: Galilaeos) is a term that was used in classical sources to describe the inhabitants of Galilee, a region today in northern Israel and much of southern Lebanon, that extends from the Mediterranean with the coastal plain in the west, to the Jordan Rift Valley with the Hulah Valley and the Sea of Galilee in the east. Initially the majority of them were Jews.

Later the term was used to refer to the early Christians by Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180) and Julian (r. 361-363), among others.

Markus Cromhout describes first-century Galileans as descendants of Hasmonean-era Judean immigrants. However, they identified by various identities, such as Galilean, Sepphorean and more broadly, Judean or Israelite. Whilst they all adhered to a 'common Judaism', Galileans 'had a different social, economic and political matrix than Jews living in Judea or the Diaspora'. Other scholars disagree and attribute the conflation between Galileans and Judeans to Hellenistic-Roman culture, which grouped all first-century Jewish groups, and their related diasporas, as "Judean".