The Zealots were a group of Jews who lived about the same time as Jesus . They wanted to defeat the Romans , who were the rulers of Palestine at that time. They used violence to meet their goals. One of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, named Simon, was a Zealot. The word "zealot" (not written with a capital letter) in modern English is used for any person who has a very strong idea about things and works hard to act upon their ideas. There are political and religious zealots but people can be "zealous" about other things also.