[Lampion]

Actually, Gluk, Zealots was a faction of the jewish people who believed that the evil influence of Rome could only be banished from Jerusalem through a civil revolution, a war against Rome. One of the apostoles of Jesus was a former zealot (I can't remember his name). Because of that, Jesus group was identifyed as Zealots several times.

But Jesus was radicaly against the Zealot's point of view, since he defended a peacefull resistance to Rome. When he appeared, there was already a revolutionary movement going on among the jewish people., and many people beleived that Jesus was the mighty General, the Leader who would claim the trone of Jerusalem and expurge the Romans from their lands.

A particualr episode of Jesus' life is very significant, regarding this subject. When Jesus was arrested and presented to the people of Jerusalem, along with another prisioner, called Barrabas(spell?), people actually chose to set free Barrabas, not Jesus. that other prisioner was an important Zealot, and in that ocasion, his comrades believed that he was more valuable to their cause, since Jesus wasn't inclined to their revolutionary ideas.

Through time, the word "Zealot" gained the depreciatory meaning we know nowadays, i.e. a crasy, very religious, and should I add, inclined to violence, people.