When Jesus walked on the earth there were two major, and one minor, political parties. The two major parties, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, made up the majority of the 70-member supreme court of Israel, called the Sanhedrin. The Essenes were the third group—they separated themselves from the rest of Israel, living down near present-day Qumran on the northwestern edge of the Dead Sea.
Who were Biblically the most accurate?