The Sadducees are a sect or group of Jews that is active in Judea during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The sect is identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society.

As a whole, the sect fulfills various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple.

The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes.

Their sect is believed to have become extinct some time after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, but it has been speculated that the later Karaites may have had some roots in—or connections with—Sadducean views.