c. 150 BCE

Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes emerge

In the mid-2nd century BCE, under the Hasmonean priest-rulers, Jewish groups take shape: Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. Pharisees accept an oral Torah and the Sadducees only the written one; the Essenes live apart. Josephus first mentions the Pharisees under Jonathan.