Generically, a Galilean (/ɡælɪˈliːən/; Hebrew: גלילי; Ancient Greek: Γαλιλαίων, romanized: galilaíōn; Latin: Galilaeos) is a term that was used in classical sources to describe the inhabitants of Galilee, a region today in northern Israel and much of southern Lebanon, that extends from the Mediterranean with the coastal plain in the west, to the Jordan Rift Valley with the Hulah Valley and the Sea of Galilee in the east. Initially the majority of them were Jews.

Later the term was used to refer to the early Christians by Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius (r. 161-180) and Julian (r. 361-363), among others.

Markus Cromhout describes first-century Galileans as descendants of Hasmonean-era Judean immigrants. However, they identified by various identities, such as Galilean, Sepphorean and more broadly, Judean or Israelite. Whilst they all adhered to a 'common Judaism', Galileans 'had a different social, economic and political matrix than Jews living in Judea or the Diaspora'. Other scholars disagree and attribute the conflation between Galileans and Judeans to Hellenistic-Roman culture, which grouped all first-century Jewish groups, and their related diasporas, as "Judean".

According to the Biblical narrative in the Book of Joshua, the Galilee was allotted to the tribes of Naphtali and Dan, at points overlapping with the domain of the Tribe of Asher and neighboring the region of Issachar. The First Book of Kings claims that the Phoenician ruler King Hiram I of Sidon was awarded twenty cities in the region of Galilee, given to him by Solomon, and the land was subsequently settled by foreigners during or after the time of Hiram. As part of the Northern Kingdom, Galilee and all the land of Naphtali were dispersed and resettled through the influx of foreigners due to the resettlement policy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the 8th century BC (2 Kings 15:29). The Book of Isaiah refers to the region as g'lil ha-goyím (Hebrew: גְּלִיל הַגּוֹיִם), meaning 'Galilee of the Nations' or 'Galilee of the Gentiles' (Isaiah 9:1).

Though Biblical scholarship and historical criticism has doubted the historicity of the twelve tribes themselves since the 19th century, the Neo-Assyrian large-scale deportation and resettlement of their conquered lands was widespread during the late 8th century BCE and remained a policy for the following several centuries.

The region of Galilee was under-populated during the Persian period. The resettlement of the area began with the establishment of cities along the coastal plain by Phoenicians from Tyre. Steadily, the coastal inhabitants built inland rural settlements for their agricultural needs, and inland fortresses for protection of caravan routes and administrative control of the hinterland, launching a new era of occupation in Galilee. With this increase in basic safety measures, people migrated into the region, and autochthonous populations expanded.The region was also inhabited by Itureans, especially in the north.

The Galileans were conscious of a mutual descent, religion and ethnicity and viewed themselves as both close to and distinct from Jews. There were numerous cultural differences, and later rabbinic literature affirms traditions that Judaic religious life in Galilee was distinct from that in Judaea due to being influenced by the native Phoenician faith. John Elliott argues that only outsiders, like Romans, confused the Galileans with Judeans.

The Pharisaic scholars of Judaism, centered in Jerusalem and Judaea, found the Galilean converts to Judaism to be insufficiently concerned about the details of Jewish observance – for example, the rules of Sabbath rest. The Pharisaic criticism of Galilean converts is mirrored in the New Testament, in which Galilean righteous zeal is compared favorably against the minute concerns of Judaean legal scholars, see for example Woes of the Pharisees. This was the heart of a "crosstown" rivalry existing between Galileans and Judaic Pharisees.