This Jewish sect arrived in Jerusalem toward the end of the ninth century CE. They were referred to as the Sect of the Slope (Zela), since they dwelt on the Jebusite slope, which was identified with the Biblical site of Zela Ha-Elef. The Karaites trace their descent to `Anan and to the House of David. The leaders of the Karaites were known as 'princes' (nesi`im), and they were the sect's contacts with the civil and Rabbinite authorities. The Karaites largely engaged in writing, and by the time of the Crusader conquest nearly their entire corpus of literature had been written in Jerusalem.