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CANANÆAN or CANAANITE occurs in Mat_10:4 and Mar_3:18 as a designation of Simon, one of the disciples of Jesus. The first is the correct reading, the Gr. Kananaios being the transliteration of kan’ânayyâ (a late Heb. derivative from kannâ’ = ‘jealous’). It is rendered in Luk_6:15 and Act_1:13 by Zçlôtçs (zealot). The Cananæans or Zealots were a sect founded by Judas of Gamala, who headed the opposition to the census of Quirinius (a.d. 6 or 7). They bitterly resented the domination of Rome, and would fain have hastened by the sword the fulfilment of the Messianic hope. During the great rebellion and the siege of Jerusalem, which ended in its destruction (a.d. 70), their fanaticism made them terrible opponents, not only to the Romans, but to other factions amongst their own countrymen.