Editing Samaritans (section)

== History ==
=== Persian period ===
[[File:Samaritan inscription.jpg|right|thumb|Ancient inscription in [[Samaritan Hebrew]]. From a photo {{circa|1900}} by the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]]]]

According to Chronicles 36:22–23, the Persian emperor [[Cyrus the Great]] (reigned 559–530 BCE) permits the return of the exiles to their homeland and orders the [[Second Temple|rebuilding of the Temple]] ([[Zion]]). The prophet [[Isaiah]] identifies Cyrus as "the {{lord}}'s [[Messiah in Judaism|Messiah]]".<ref>{{bibleverse||Isaiah|45:1|HE}}</ref> As the [[Babylonian captivity]] had primarily affected the lowlands of Judea, the Samarian populations had likely avoided the casualties of the crisis of exile and in fact showed signs of widespread prosperity.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=104}}

The books of Ezra–Nehemiah detail a lengthy political struggle between Nehemiah, governor of the new Persian province of [[Yehud Medinata]], and [[Sanballat the Horonite]], the governor of Samaria, centered around the refortification of the destroyed Jerusalem. Despite this political discourse, the text implies that relationships between the Jews and Samaritans were otherwise quite amicable, as intermarriage between the two seems commonplace, even to the point that the [[High Priest of Israel|High Priest]] [[Joiada]] married Sanballat's daughter.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=162}} Some theologians believe Nehemiah 11:3 describes other Israelite tribes returning to Judah with the Judeans. The former lived in the cities of Judah whilst the latter lived in Jerusalem. [[Benjamites]] also lived with Judeans in Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Nehemiah 11 Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/nehemiah/11.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240311080519/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jfb/nehemiah/11.htm |archive-date=March 11, 2024 |website=Biblehub.com}}</ref>

During [[Achaemenid]] rule, material evidence suggests significant overlap between Jews and proto-Samaritans, with the two groups sharing a common language and script, eschewing the claim that the schism had taken form by this time. However, onomastic evidence suggests the existence of a distinct northern culture.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=109–112}} Some inhabitants of Samaria during this period identified with Israelite heritage. This connection is evidenced in two ways: first, through biblical accounts of local officials' involvement with the Jerusalem Temple, and second, through naming patterns. Many names recorded in the [[Wadi Daliyeh]] documents and on Samaritan coins feature Israelite elements. Sanballat's sons bore the theophoric Israelite names Delaiah and Shelemiah, while the name "Jeroboam", used by northern Israelite kings during the monarchic period, also appears on Samaritan coins.<ref name=":7">{{Citation |last=Eshel |first=Hanan |title=The Growth of Belief in the Sanctity of Mount Gerizim |work=A Teacher for All Generations (2 vols.) |pages=509–510 |year=2012 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004224087/B9789004224087_029.xml |access-date=2024-10-10 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-22408-7}}</ref>

The archaeological evidence can find no sign of habitation in the Assyrian and Babylonian periods at Mount Gerizim but indicates the existence of a sacred precinct on the site in the Persian period by the 5th century BCE.{{sfn|Magen|2007|pp=178–179}} This is not to be interpreted as signaling a precipitous schism between the Jews and Samaritans, as the [[Mount Gerizim Temple|Gerizim temple]] was not the only Yahwistic temple outside of Judea. According to most modern scholars, the split between the Jews and Samaritans was a gradual historical process extending over several centuries rather than a single schism at a given point in time.{{sfn|Bourgel|2019|p=1}}

=== Hellenistic period ===

==== Foreign rule ====

The [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian Empire]] conquered the [[Levant]] in the 330s BCE, resulting in both Samaria and Judea coming under Greek rule as the province of [[Coele-Syria]]. Samaria was by-and-large devastated by the Macedonian conquest and subsequent colonization efforts, though its southern lands were spared the broader consequences of the invasion and continued to thrive. Matters were further complicated in 331 BCE when the Samaritans rose up in rebellion and murdered the Macedonian-appointed prefect Andromachus, resulting in a brutal reprisal by the army.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=169}} Following the death of [[Alexander the Great]], the area became part of the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]], which, in one of [[Syrian Wars|several wars]], was eventually conquered by the neighboring [[Seleucid Empire]].

Though the temple on Mount Gerizim had existed since the 5th century BCE, evidence shows that its sacred precinct experienced an extravagant expansion during the early [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic era]], indicating its status as the preeminent place of Samaritan worship had begun to crystallize. By the time of [[Antiochus III the Great]], the temple "town" had reached 30 [[dunam]]s in size.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=123}} The presence of a flourishing cult centered around Gerizim is documented by the sudden resurgence of Yahwistic and Hebrew names in contemporary correspondence, suggesting that the Samaritan community had officially been established by the 2nd century BCE.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=125–133}} Overall, the Samaritans were generally more populous and wealthier than the Judeans in Palestine, until 164 BC.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|p=2}}

==== Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Hellenization ====
[[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] was on the throne of the Seleucid Empire from 175 to 163&nbsp;BCE. His policy was to [[Hellenization|Hellenize]] his entire kingdom and standardize religious observance. According to 1 Maccabees 1:41-50 he proclaimed himself the incarnation of the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] god [[Zeus]] and mandated death to anyone who refused to worship him. In the 2nd century BCE, a series of events led to a revolution by a faction of Judeans against Antiochus IV.

Anderson notes that during the reign of Antiochus IV:{{sfn|Jackson|n.d.}}{{Better source needed|date=January 2023}}{{blockquote|sign=|source=Bromiley, 4.304|the Samaritan temple was renamed either Zeus Hellenios (willingly by the Samaritans according to Josephus) or, more likely, Zeus Xenios, (unwillingly in accord with 2 Macc. 6:2).}}

Josephus quotes the Samaritans as saying:

{{blockquote|sign=|source=Josephus 12:5|We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and saviour, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbances, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens from their nation and from their customs, but let our temple which at present hath no name at all, be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.}}

In the letter, defended as genuine by [[Elias Joseph Bickerman|E. Bickerman]] and [[Menahem Stern|M. Stern]], the Samaritans assert their distinction from the Judeans based on both race (γένος) and in customs (ἔθος).<ref>{{Citation |title=Theoretical Considerations: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Antiquity |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=19, 22 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/theoretical-considerations-nationalism-and-ethnicity-in-antiquity/CB4441D91310FB3557F79891F6AE8564 |access-date=2024-06-14 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.002 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

According to II Maccabees:{{blockquote|sign=|source=II Maccabees 6:1–2|Shortly afterwards, the Greek king sent Gerontes the Athenian to force the Jews of Israel to violate their ancestral customs and live no longer by the laws of God; and to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and the one on Mount Gerizim to Zeus, Patron of Strangers, as the inhabitants of the latter place had requested.}}

==== Destruction of the temple ====
During the Hellenistic period, Samaria was largely divided between a Hellenizing faction based in Samaria ([[Sebastia, Nablus|Sebastia]]) and a pious faction in [[Shechem]] and surrounding rural areas, led by the High Priest. Samaria was a largely autonomous state nominally dependent on the Seleucid Empire until around 110&nbsp;BCE,{{efn|Josephus sets the date for the destruction at 128&nbsp;BCE. Israeli archaeology has established that the destruction levels are compatible only with a later date, around 110&nbsp;BCE {{harv|Kartveit|2009|p=193}}.}} when the [[Hasmonean dynasty|Hasmonean]] ruler [[John Hyrcanus]] destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim and devastated Samaria. Only a few stone remnants of the temple exist today.{{sfn|Bourgel|2016|pp=505–523}}

Hyrcanus' campaign of destruction was the watershed moment which confirmed hostile relations between Jews and Samaritans. The actions of the Hasmonean dynasty resulted in widespread Samaritan resentment of, and alienation from, their Judean brethren, resulting in the deterioration of relations between the two that lasted centuries, if not millennia.{{sfn|Knoppers|2013|pp=173–174}}

=== Roman period ===
Under the [[Roman Empire]], Samaria became a part of the [[Herodian Tetrarchy]], and with the deposition of [[Herod Archelaus]] in the early 1st century CE Samaria became a part of the province of [[Judaea (Roman province)|Judaea]]. Samaritans appear briefly in the Christian [[gospel]]s, most notably in the account of the [[Samaritan woman at the well]] and the [[parable of the Good Samaritan]]. In the former, it is noted that a substantial number of Samaritans accepted [[Jesus]] through the woman's testimony to them, and Jesus stayed in Samaria for two days before returning to [[Cana]]. In the latter, it is only the Samaritan who helps the man stripped of clothing, beaten, and left on the road half dead, his Abrahamic covenantal circumcision implicitly evident. A priest and a Levite walk past, but the Samaritan helps the naked man regardless of his nakedness (itself religiously offensive to the priest and Levite{{sfn|Bible Hub: Nakedness}}), his self-evident poverty, or to which Hebrew sect he belongs.

During the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] in 67 CE a significant Samaritan uprising gathered on Mt. Gerizim. In response, Roman general [[Vespasian]] dispatched a relatively small force under the command of Cerialis. Although some Samaritans surrendered, most fought, resulting in heavy casualties. According to Josephus, 11,600 Samaritans were killed.<ref name=":62">{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=Guy MacLean |title=For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66–74 CE |date=2021 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-24813-5 |location=New Haven |pages=227–228}}</ref> There is no evidence of Samaritan involvement in later phases of the revolt.<ref name=":6" /> In 72/73 CE, Vespasian established [[Flavia Neapolis]] on the site of ''Mabartha'', near Shechem. While some scholars argue this was to counter Samaritan influence and aspirations, others contend it was primarily a geo-strategic decision.<ref name=":6" /> The new city was designed as a [[polis]] and included both Samaritan and pagan populations, becoming a major urban center for the Samaritans. Despite its Hellenistic character, the city maintained local traditions, as reflected in its coins which avoided pagan symbols.<ref name=":6" />

The possibility of Samaritan involvement in the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] (132–136 CE) alongside the Jews against the Romans remains uncertain. Some Jewish sources, such as the [[Genesis Rabbah]] and the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], depict the Samaritans as obstructing Jewish efforts, including the construction of the Temple and the defense of [[Betar (ancient village)|Betar]], leading to interpretations of possible Samaritan collaboration with the Romans. However, these sources are considered legendary or anachronistic. Additionally, later Samaritan chronicles referring to the [[Hadrian]]ic period do not connect events from this time to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Consequently, Mor concludes that there is no concrete evidence of cooperation between Jews and Samaritans during the revolt.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Mor |first=Menahem |title=The Second Jewish Revolt: the Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-31463-4 |series=The Brill Reference Library of Judaism |location=Leiden, Boston |pages=363–368, 373–374}}</ref>

The defeat of the Jews in the Bar Kokhba revolt, along with the depopulation and destruction of [[Judea]], allowed the Samaritans to expand into former Jewish areas, particularly in northern Judea, establishing themselves in places such as [[Imwas|Emmaus]] and [[Salbit|Sha'alavim]].<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Dauphin |first=Claudine |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Jews-and-Judaism-in-Late-Antiquity/Hezser/p/book/9781138241220 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity |publisher=Routledge |year=2024 |editor-last=Hezser |editor-first=Catherine |pages=40–43 |chapter=Changes in the Infrastructure and Population of Byzantine Palestine}}</ref><ref name=":63">{{Cite book |last=Mor |first=Menahem |title=The Second Jewish Revolt: the Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-31463-4 |series=The Brill Reference Library of Judaism |location=Leiden, Boston |pages=383}}</ref> Samaritans also settled in the [[Beit She'an Valley]] and in coastal cities like [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]].<ref name=":63" /><ref name=":03" /> In the ensuing years, the synagogue gained prominence as the central religious institution for the Samaritan community.<ref name=":03" /> Much of the Samaritan liturgy was later organized and formalized by the high priest [[Baba Rabba]] in the 4th century.{{sfn|Cowley|1894|pp=121–122}}

=== Byzantine period ===
{{further|Samaritan Revolts}}

According to Samaritan sources, [[List of Byzantine emperors|Eastern Roman emperor]] [[Zeno (emperor)|Zeno]] (who ruled 474–491 and whom the sources call "Zait the King of Edom") persecuted the Samaritans. The emperor went to Neapolis (Shechem), gathered the elders and asked them to convert to Christianity; when they refused, Zeno had many Samaritans killed and re-built the synagogue as a church. Zeno then took for himself Mount Gerizim and built several edifices, among them a tomb for his recently deceased son, on which he put a cross so that the Samaritans, worshiping God, would prostrate in front of the tomb. By 484 the Samaritans revolted. The rebels attacked Neapolis, burning five churches built on Samaritan holy places and cutting the finger of bishop Terebinthus who was officiating at the ceremony of [[Pentecost]]. They elected [[Justa (rebel)|Justa]] (or Justasa/Justasus) as their king and moved to [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], where a noteworthy Samaritan community lived. Here several Christians were killed, and the church of St. Sebastian was destroyed. Justa celebrated the victory with games in the circus. According to the [[Chronicon Paschale]], the ''dux Palaestinae'' Asclepiades, whose troops were reinforced by the Caesarea-based Arcadiani of Rheges, defeated Justa, killed him, and sent his head to Zeno.{{sfn|Pummer|2002|p=367}} According to [[Procopius]], Terebinthus went to Zeno to ask for revenge; the emperor personally went to Samaria to quell the rebellion.<ref>Procopius, ''Buildings'', 5.7.</ref>
[[File:Khirbat-Samara-synagogue-119.jpg|thumb|Ruins of a 4th-century Samaritan synagogue likely abandoned after the [[Samaritan revolts|Samaritan Revolts]], [[Khirbet Samara]]]]
Some modern historians believe that the order of the facts preserved by Samaritan sources should be inverted, with the persecution of Zeno as a consequence of the rebellion rather than its cause, and should have happened after 484, around 489. Zeno rebuilt the church of St. Procopius in Neapolis, and the Samaritans were banned from Mount Gerizim, on whose top a signaling tower was built to alert in case of civil unrest.{{sfn|Crown|1989|pp=72–73}}

According to an anonymous biography of Mesopotamian monk [[Barsauma (died 456)|Barsauma]], whose pilgrimage to the region in the early 5th century was accompanied by clashes with locals and the forced conversion of non-Christians, Barsauma managed to convert Samaritans by conducting demonstrations of healing.<ref>Nau, "Re´sume´", ROC 9 (1914), 114–15.</ref> Jacob, an ascetic healer living in a cave near Porphyrion, [[Mount Carmel]] in the 6th century CE, attracted admirers including Samaritans who later converted to Christianity.<ref>Vita Jacobi, text and trans. in Pummer, 326–31</ref>{{sfn|Sivan|2008|p=172}} Under growing government pressure, many Samaritans who refused to convert to Christianity in the 6th century may have preferred [[paganism]] and even [[Manichaeism|Manicheism]].<ref>Procopius, ''Anecdota''. 11.26</ref>

Under a charismatic, [[Messiah#Messianic figure|messianic figure]] named [[Julianus ben Sabar]] (or ben Sahir), the Samaritans launched a war to create their own independent state in 529. With the help of the [[Ghassanids]], Emperor [[Justinian I]] crushed the revolt; tens of thousands of Samaritans died or were enslaved. The Samaritan faith, which had previously enjoyed the status of ''[[religio licita]]'', was virtually outlawed thereafter by the Christian [[Byzantine Empire]]; from a population once at least in the hundreds of thousands, the Samaritan community dwindled to tens of thousands.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Siebeck |first1=Mohr |title=Companion to Samaritan Studies |pages=70–71}}</ref>

The Byzantine response to the revolts, described by the archaeologist [[Claudine Dauphin]] as an act of [[ethnic cleansing]], decimated five successive generations of the Samaritan population, destroyed their religious center, stripped their rights, and left them politically insignificant.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Dauphin |first=Claudine |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Jews-and-Judaism-in-Late-Antiquity/Hezser/p/book/9781138241220 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Jews and Judaism in Late Antiquity |publisher=Routledge |year=2024 |editor-last=Hezser |editor-first=Catherine |pages=42–43 |chapter=Changes in the Infrastructure and Population of Byzantine Palestine}}</ref> Nevertheless''',''' the Samaritan population in Samaria did survive. During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 570 CE, an anonymous Christian pilgrim from [[Piacenza]] travelled through Samaria and recorded the following: "From there we went up past a number of places belonging to Samaria and Judaea to the city of Sebaste, the resting-place of the Prophet Elisha. There were several Samaritan cities and villages on our way down through the plains, and wherever we passed along the streets they burned away our footprints with straw, whether we were Christians or Jews, they have such a horror of both".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=John |title=Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades |publisher=Ariel Publishing House |year=1977 |isbn=0-85668-078-8 |pages=81}}</ref> The same pilgrim also mentions a place called ''Castra Samaritanorum'' near [[Tel Shikmona|Shikmona]].{{sfn|Ehrlich|2022|p=47}}

According to Menachem Mor, the decline of the Samaritan population between the 5th and 6th centuries was mostly due to the ongoing Christianization of Palestine's inhabitants, rather than the uprisings against the Byzantines. Mor argues that a large number of Samaritans in the cities and towns converted to Christianity, some under pressure and some of their own free will. He claims that both Samaritan and Christian sources preferred to conceal this phenomenon. The Samaritans preferred to attribute their numerical decrease on their resistance to coerced conversion, while the Christians were not willing to admit that the Samaritans were coerced into accepting Christianity and instead preferred to claim that many Samaritans were killed because of their rebellious nature.<ref
 name="Mor2003">{{Cite book |last=Mor |first=Menachem |title=משומרון לשכם: העדה השומרונית בעת העתיקה |publisher=מרכז זלמן שזר לתולדות ישראל |year=2003 |isbn=965-227-182-9 |location=Jerusalem, Israel |pages=223–224 |language=he |trans-title=From Samaria to Shechem: The Samaritan Community in Antiquity |chapter=מרידות השומרונים |trans-chapter=The Samaritan Revolts}}</ref> A change in the local population's identity throughout the Byzantine period is not indicated by the archeological findings.<ref name=":2" />[[File:Mosaic from Samaritan synagogue.jpg|thumb|Mosaic from Samaritan synagogue ([[Israel Museum]])]]

=== Early Islamic period ===
By the time of the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]], apart from Jund Filastin, small dispersed communities of Samaritans were living in [[History of Muslim Egypt|Muslim Egypt]], [[Bilad al-Sham|Syria]], and [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Muslim Iran]]. According to Milka Levy-Rubin, many [[Forced Islamization of the Samaritans|Samaritans were forced to convert]] under [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] and [[Tulunids|Tulunid]] rule (878–905 CE), having been subjected to hardships such as droughts, earthquakes, persecution by local governors, high taxes on religious minorities, and anarchy.{{sfn|Ehrlich|2022|p=33}}

Like other non-Muslims in the empire, such as Jews, Samaritans were often considered to be [[People of the Book]] and were guaranteed religious freedom.{{sfn|Pummer|1987|p=4}} Their minority status was protected by the Muslim rulers, and they had the right to practice their religion, but as [[dhimmi]], adult males had to pay the [[jizya]] or "protection tax". This however changed during late Abbasid period, with increasing persecution targeting the Samaritan community and considering them infidels which must convert to Islam.<ref name=":1"/>

Anarchy overtook Palestine during the early years of Abbasid Caliph [[al-Ma'mun]] (813–833 CE), when his rule was challenged by internal strife. According to the Chronicle of Abu l-Fath, during this time, many clashes took place, the locals suffered from famine and even fled their homes out of fear, and "many left their faith". An exceptional case is of ibn Firāsa, a rebel who arrived in Palestine in 830 and was said to have loathed Samaritans and persecuted them. He punished them, forced them to convert to Islam, and filled the prisons with Samaritan men, women, and children, keeping them there until many of them perished from hunger and thirst. He had also demanded payment for enabling them to circumcise their sons on the eighth day. As a result of the persecution, many Samaritans abandoned their religion at that time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=לוי-רובין |first=מילכה |title=ספר השומרונים |publisher=יד יצחק בן צבי, רשות העתיקות, המנהל האזרחי ליהודה ושומרון: קצין מטה לארכיאולוגיה |year=2006 |isbn=965-217-202-2 |editor-last=שטרן |editor-first=אפרים |edition=2 |location=ירושלים |pages=562–586 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=Book of the Samaritans; The Continuation of the Samaritan Chronicle of Abu l-Fath |editor-last2=אשל |editor-first2=חנן}}</ref> The revolt was put down, but caliph [[al-Mu'tasim]] then increased taxes on the rebels, which sparked a second uprising. Rebel forces captured Nablus, where they set fire to synagogues belonging to the Samaritan and Dosithian (Samaritan sect) faiths. The community's situation briefly improved when this uprising was put down by Abbasid forces, and High Priest Pinhas ben Netanel resumed worship in the Nablus synagogue. Under the reign of [[Al-Wathiq|al-Wāthiq bi-llāh]], Abu-Harb Tamim, who had the support of [[Yaman (tribal group)|Yaman tribes]], led yet another uprising. He captured Nablus and caused many to flee, the Samaritan High Priest was injured and later died of his wounds in [[Hebron]]. The Samaritans could not go back to their homes until Abu-Harb tamim was vanquished and captured (842 CE).<ref name=":1" />

A number of restrictions on the dhimmi were reinstituted during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] (847–861 CE), prices increased once more, and many people experienced severe poverty. "Many people lost faith as a result of the terrible price increases and because they became weary of paying the jizya. There were many sons and families who left their faith and became lost".<ref name=":1" /> The tradition of men wearing a red [[tarboosh]] may also go back to an order by al-Mutawakkil, that required non-Muslims to be distinguished from Muslims.{{sfn|Pummer|1987|p=17}} However, this is disputed because praying while wearing a tarboosh was easier for Muslims, because they put their heads to the ground during Salah (daily prayers).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kinross |first=Patrick Balfour |title=The Ottoman centuries: the rise and fall of the Turkish empire |date=1979 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=978-0-688-08093-8 |series=Morrow Quill paperbacks |location=New York, N.Y}}</ref>

The numerous instances of Samaritans converting to Islam that are mentioned in the Chronicle of Abu l-Fath are all connected to economic difficulties that led to widespread poverty among the Samaritan population, anarchy that left Samaritans defenseless against Muslim attackers, and attempts by those people and others to force conversion on the Samaritans. It is crucial to keep in mind that the Samaritan community was the smallest among the other dhimmi communities and that it was also situated in Samaria, where Muslim settlement continued to expand as evidenced by the text; by the ninth century, villages such as [[Sinjil]] and [[Jinsafut]] were already Muslim. This makes it possible to assume that the Samaritans were more vulnerable than other ''dhimmi'', what greatly broadened the extent of their Islamization.<ref name=":1" />

Archaeological data demonstrates that during the 8th and 9th centuries, winepresses west of Samaria stopped operating, but the villages to which they belonged persisted. Such sites could be securely identified as Samaritan in some of those cases, and it is likely in others. According to one theory, the local Samaritans who converted to Islam kept their villages going but were barred by [[Sharia|Islamic law]] from [[Khamr|making wine]]. These findings date to the Abbasid period, and are in accordance with the Islamization process as described in the historical sources.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=שור |first=נתן |title=ספר השומרונים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי; רשות העתיקות |year=2006 |isbn=965-217-202-2 |editor-last=שטרן |editor-first=אפרים |edition=2 |location=ירושלים |pages=587–590 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=Book of the Samaritans |chapter=רדיפות השומרונים בידי העבאסים והיעלמות היישוב השומרוני החקלאי |editor-last2=אשל |editor-first2=חנן}}</ref>

As time goes on, more information from recorded sources refers to Nablus and less to the vast agricultural regions that the Samaritans had previously inhabited. Hence, the Abbasid era marks the disappearance of Samaritan rural habitation in Samaria. By the end of the period, Samaritans were mainly centered in Nablus, while other communities persisted in [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], [[Cairo]], [[Damascus]], [[Aleppo]], [[Sarepta]], and [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]].<ref name=":2" /> The Samaritans transitioned from speaking Aramaic and Arabic to exclusively speaking Arabic starting from the 11th century onward.<ref name="Neishtadt">{{cite book |last1=Neishtadt |first1=Mila |title=Semitic Languages in Contact |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-30015-6 |editor-last=Butts |editor-first=Aaron |page=281 |chapter=The Lexical Component in the Aramaic Substrate of Palestinian Arabic |doi=10.1163/9789004300156_016 |oclc=1105497638}}</ref>

=== Crusader period ===
During the [[Crusades]], the [[Franks]] took over Nablus, where the majority of Samaritans lived.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=85}}{{efn|[[Benjamin of Tudela]], who passed through the region in 1170, said that the Samaritan population was more numerous than that of the Jews (1,200) and estimated there were 1,000 Samaritans in Nablus, 200 in Caesarea and 300 in Ascalon, not mentioning those in Acre and [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]]. He also counted 400 in [[Damascus]] {{harv|Kedar|1989|p=84}}.}} Massacres took place in Samaritan maritime communities in [[Apollonia–Arsuf|Arsuf]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and perhaps [[Ashkelon|Ascalon]].{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=83}} During the initial [[Razzia (military)|razzia]] in Nablus the invading Franks destroyed Samaritan buildings and sometime later tore down their [[mikveh|ritual bath]] and synagogue on Mt. Gerizim.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=83}} Christians bearing crosses successfully pleaded for a calm transition.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|pp=82–83}} The calamities that befell them during the Frankish reign came from Muslims such as the commander of the Dasmascene army, Bazwȃdj, who raided Nablus in 1137 and abducted 500 Samaritan men, women and children back to Damascus.{{sfn|Kedar|1989|p=91}}

=== Ayyubid and Mamluk rule ===
Two hundred Samaritans were reportedly forced to convert to Islam in the village of [[Immatain]] by [[Saladin]], according to a tradition recalled by a Samaritan High Priest in the 20th century; however, written sources make no reference to this event.<ref>{{Cite book |last=קדר |first=ב"ז |title=ספר השומרונים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי; רשות העתיקות; המנהל האזרחי ליהודה ושומרון – קצין מטה לארכאולוגיה |year=2006 |isbn=965-217-202-2 |editor-last=שטרן |editor-first=אפרים |edition=2 |location=ירושלים |pages=594 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=Book of the Samaritans |chapter=השומרונים תחת השלטון הפרנקי |trans-chapter=The Samaritans under Frankish rule |editor-last2=אשל |editor-first2=חנן}}</ref>

=== Ottoman rule ===
[[File:Gerizim2.jpg|left|thumb|Samaritan worship center on [[Mount Gerizim]]. From a photo c. 1900 by the [[Palestine Exploration Fund]]]]

According to the Ottoman censuses of 1525–1526, 25 Samaritan families lived in Gaza, and 29 families lived in Nablus. In 1548–1549, there were 18 families in Gaza and 34 in Nablus.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=רוזן |first=מינה |title=ההיסטוריה של ארץ ישראל: שלטון הממלוכים והעות'מאנים (1260–1804) |publisher=בית הוצאה כתר, ירושלים; יד יצחק בן-צבי |year=1998 |editor-last=כהן |editor-first=אמנון |pages=258 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=The History of Eretz Israel under the Mamluk and Ottoman rule (1260–1804) |chapter=13. שומרונים וקראים |trans-chapter=13. Samaritans and Karaites}}</ref> In 1596–1597, there were 8 families in Gaza, 20 in Nablus and 5 in Safed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schur |first=Nathan |date=1986-07-01 |title=The Samaritans, as Described in Christian Itineraries (14th-18th Centuries) |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/peq.1986.118.2.144 |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=144–155 |doi=10.1179/peq.1986.118.2.144 |issn=0031-0328|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The Samaritan community in [[Egypt]] shrank as a result of Ottoman persecution of Samaritans who worked for the Mamluk government, with the majority of them converting to Islam.<ref name=":0" /> In [[Damascus]], the majority of the Samaritan community was massacred or converted to Islam during the reign of the Ottoman [[Pasha]] Mardam Beqin in the early 17th century. The remainder of the Samaritan community there, in particular the Danafi family, which is still influential today, moved back to Nablus in the 17th century.{{sfn|Schreiber|2014|p=46}} The Matari family relocated from Gaza to Nablus at about the same time that the Marhiv family moved back from [[Sarepta|Sarafand]], Lebanon. There were no longer any Samaritans in either Gaza or Damascus; only a handful remained in Gaza.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=שור |first=נתן |title=ספר השומרונים |publisher=יד יצחק בן-צבי; רשות העתיקות; המנהל האזרחי ליהודה ושומרון – קצין מטה לארכאולוגיה |year=2006 |isbn=965-217-202-2 |editor-last=שטרן |editor-first=אפרים |edition=2 |location=ירושלים |pages=604–648 |language=Hebrew |trans-title=Book of the Samaritans |chapter=השומרונים בתקופה הממלוכית, העות'מאנית ובמאה העשרים |trans-chapter=The Samaritans under Mamluk and Ottoman rule and during the 20th century |editor-last2=אשל |editor-first2=חנן}}</ref>

The Nablus community endured because most of the surviving diaspora returned, and they have maintained a tiny presence there to this day. In 1624, the last [[Samaritan High Priest]] of the line of [[Eleazar]] son of [[Aaron]] died without issue, but according to Samaritan tradition, descendants of Aaron's other son, [[Ithamar]], remained and took over the office.{{sfn|Ireton|2003}} Following the death of High Priest Shelamia ben Pinhas, Muslim persecution of Samaritans intensified, and they became the target of violent riots that led to many of them converting to Islam. In 1624, access to Mount Gerizim's summit was outlawed for the survivors, and they were only permitted to make Passover sacrifices on the mountain's eastern slopes. By the middle of the 17th century, very small Samaritan communities survived in Nablus, Gaza, and Jaffa.<ref name=":0" />

The status of the Samaritan community of Nablus greatly improved in the early 18th century because one of them, Ibrahim al-Danafi, who was also a poet and an author, worked for the [[Tuqan family]], which then dominated the city. Al-Danafi also bought the [[Hill of Phinehas|hill of Pinehas]] and the plot on Mount Gerizim's summit to be used by the community, but the favorable conditions that were necessary for the community's recovery did not last. The 1759 earthquake, the endemic that followed, and the other restrictions placed on the Samaritans limited the growth of their community, and by the end of the 18th century, there were only 200 people living there and living off of trade, brokerage, and tax collection.<ref name=":0" />

The majority of Samaritan families in the 19th century lived in ''Harat el-Somra'', a crowded neighborhood in Nablus' southwest. During this time, the modest Samaritan synagogue, "el-Kanis", served as the center of the community's cultural, religious, and social life. Some Samaritans worked as clerks for the municipal authorities, while others worked in local small business and crafts in Nablus and its vicinity. Some were forced to collect alms from the growing numbers of tourists and other visitors. To keep their households and organizations functioning, the Samaritan community sometimes even turned to selling ancient manuscripts.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Gafni |first=Reuven |title=The Samaritans |chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004466913/BP000014.xml |chapter=Two Minorities on the Brink: Jews and Samaritans in Nineteenth-Century Nablus |date=2022-01-19 |pages=129–136 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-46691-3 |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004466913_014}}</ref>

During the 1840s, the [[ulama]] of Nablus began asserting that the Samaritans may not be considered "[[People of the Book]]" and therefore have the same status as [[Kafir|pagans]] and must convert to Islam or [[Capital punishment in Islam|be executed]]. As a result, locals attempted to force the conversion of two children of a Samaritan widow who had a Muslim lover in 1841. Her young daughter died from fear, but her 14-year-old boy converted to Islam. Another Samaritan was later coerced into converting to Islam. Appealing to the King of France did not help. The Samaritan people were eventually helped by the Jewish [[Hakham Bashi]] [[Chaim Abraham Gagin]], who decreed that the Samaritans are "a branch of the children of Israel, who acknowledge the truth of the Torah," and as such should be protected as a "People of the Book". As a result, the ulama ceased their preaching against Samaritans. The Samaritans also paid bribes to the Arab Muslims, totaling approximately 1000 GBP, and eventually came out of their hiding places. However, they were prohibited from offering Passover sacrifices on Mount Gerizim until 1849.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> By the late Ottoman period, the Samaritan community dwindled to its lowest.<ref name="toi">{{cite journal |last1=Cross |first1=Joseph |date=2019 |title=News & Notes: Issue 242 {{!}} Summer 2019 |url=https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/N_and_N/nn242.pdf |journal=News & Notes |issue=242 |pages=8 |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref> In the 19th century, with pressure of conversion and persecution from the local rulers, the community fell to just over 100 persons.<ref name="toi" />

=== Mandatory Palestine ===
[[File:The High Priest of the Samaritans with the Codex Nablus c. 192.jpg|thumb|upright|Yitzhaq ben Amram ben Shalma ben Tabia, the High Priest of the Samaritans, Nablus, c. 1920]]
[[File:Interior of the Synagogue of the Samaritans Nablus c. 1920.jpg|thumb|upright|Interior of the Synagogue of the Samaritans in Nablus, c. 1920]]

The situation of the Samaritan community improved significantly during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]]. At that time, they began to work in the public sector, like many other groups. With better medical care and Samaritan men marrying Jewish women, the demographic status of the community improved throughout the Mandatory period.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |title=Palestine Census (1922)}}</ref>  The censuses of [[1922 census of Palestine|1922]] and [[1931 census of Palestine|1931]] recorded 163 and 182 Samaritans in Palestine, respectively.{{sfn|Ben-Zvi|1933|p=87}} 147 lived in Nablus,{{sfn|Ben-Zvi|1933|p=87}} 12 resided in [[Tulkarm]], 12 in [[Jaffa]], and 6 in [[As-Salt]], [[Emirate of Transjordan|Transjordan]]. Later some moved to [[Ramat Gan]] and even to [[Haifa]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/palestine-census-1931 |title=Palestine Census 1931}}</ref>

During the [[1929 Palestine riots]], Arab rioters attacked Samaritans who were performing the Passover sacrifice on Mount Gerizim and flung stones at them as well as their guests. The [[Palestine Police Force]] got involved and stopped any potential fatalities.<ref name=":3" />

=== Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian rule ===
After the establishment of the State of Israel, some of the Samaritans who were living in [[Jaffa]] emigrated to Samaria and lived in Nablus. By the late 1950s, around 100 Samaritans left the West Bank for Israel under an agreement with [[Jordanian annexation of the West Bank|the Jordanian authorities in the West Bank]].{{sfn|Yousef|Barghouti|2005}} In 1954, [[President of Israel|Israeli President]] [[Yitzhak Ben-Zvi]] fostered a Samaritan enclave in Holon, Israel, located in 15a Ben Amram Street.{{sfn|ISII}}{{sfn|Friedman|2007}}{{sfn|Rosenblatt|2002}} During Jordanian rule in the West Bank, Samaritans from Holon were permitted to visit Mount Gerizim only once a year, on Passover.{{sfn|''The Jewish Week''|2011}}

In 1967, Israel conquered the West Bank during the [[Six-Day War]], and the Samaritans there came under Israeli rule. Until the 1990s, most of the Samaritans in the West Bank resided in Nablus. They relocated to Mount Gerizim near the [[Israeli settlement]] of [[Har Brakha]] as a result of violence during the [[First Intifada]] (1987–1990). Consequently, all that is left of the Samaritan community in Nablus is an abandoned synagogue. The [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli army]] maintains a presence in the area.{{sfn|Rosenblatt|2002}} The Samaritans of Nablus relocated to the village of Kiryat Luza. In the mid-1990s, the Samaritans of Kiryat Luza were granted Israeli citizenship. They also became citizens of the [[Palestinian Authority]] following the [[Oslo Accords]]. As a result, they are the only people to possess dual Israeli-Palestinian citizenship.{{sfn|''The Jewish Week''|2011}}{{sfn|Jerusalem Cinematheque: Samaritan}} [[File:Sofi Tzadka.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Sofi Tsedaka]], an Israeli actress from the Samaritan community]]
[[File:Samaritan Pilgrimage 1920.JPG|thumb|upright|During the entire week following the Feast of the Passover, the Samaritans remain encamped on [[Mount Gerizim]].
On the last day of the encampment, they begin at dawn a pilgrimage to the crest of the sacred mount. Before setting forth on this pilgrimage, however, the men spread their cloths and repeat the creed and the story of the Creation in silence, after which, in loud voice they read the Book of Genesis and the first quarter of the Book of Exodus, ending with the story of the Passover and the flight from Egypt<br />— John D. Whiting<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;''The National Geographic Magazine'', Jan 1920]]

Today, Samaritans in Israel are fully integrated into society and serve in the [[Israel Defense Forces]]. The Samaritans of the West Bank seek good relations with their Palestinian neighbors while maintaining their Israeli citizenship, tend to be fluent in Hebrew and Arabic, and use both a Hebrew and Arab name.{{sfn|''The Jewish Week''|2011}}