HERODIANS ('Hpw&avoi)  , a sect or party mentioned in Scripture as having on two occasions—once in Galilee, and again in Jerusalem—manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus (Mark iii . 6, xii . 13; Matt. xxii . 6; cf. also Mark viii . 15) . In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees . According to many interpreters the courtiers orsoldiers of Herod Antipas (" Milites Herodis," Jerome) are intended; but more probably the Herodians were a public political party, who distinguished themselves from the two great historical parties of post-exilian Judaism by the fact that they were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great and to his dynasty (cf. such formations as " Caesariani," " Pornpeiani ") . It is possible that, to gain adherents, the Herodian party may have been in the habit of representing that the establishment of a Herodian dynasty would be favourable to the realization of the theocracy; and this in turn may account for Tertullian's (De praescr.) allegation that the Herodians regarded Herod himself as the Messiah . The sect was called by the Rabbis Boethusians as being friendly to the family of Boethus, whose daughter Mariamne was one of Herod the Great's wives . (J . H . A .