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Like the Jews, the Samaritans are both a religious and an ethnic group. Ethnically, they are descended from the inhabitants of Samaria from the beginning of the Babylonian Exile up to the beginning of the Christian era. Religiously, they are the adherents of Samaritanism which resembles Temple or pre-rabbinical Judaism.
The Samaritans either speak Modern Hebrew or Palestinian Arabic as their mother language. For liturgical purposes, Samaritan Hebrew and Samaritan Aramaic are used.
The exact historical origins of the Samaritans are disputed to this day. 2 Kings 17 and Josephus (Antiquites 9.277–91) claim that the Samaritans are descendants of mixed ancestry, both of Israelite lineage and of deportees brought into the region of Samaria by the Assyrians from other lands they had conquered, including Cuthah. On the other hand, the Samaritans have always claimed to be the descendants of Israelites of the Northern Kingdom who remained behind during the Babylonian Captivity, and thus introduced none of the religious changes brought about among the Jews during this time. Some modern scholars agree. A genetic study (Shen, et al., 2004) concluded from Y-chromosome analysis that Samaritans descend from the Israelites (including Cohen, or priests), and mitochondrial DNA analysis shows descent from Assyrians and other foreign women, effectively validating both local and foreign origins for the Samaritans.
Some date their split with Jews to the time of NehemiahNehemiah or Nechemya "Comforted of/is the LORD", Standard Hebrew Nemya Tiberian Hebrew Nemyh was a person in the Bible, believed to be the primary author of the book of Nehemiah. He was the son of Hachaliah (Neh. 1:1), and probably of the tribe of Judah., EzraEzra Standard Hebrew Ezra Tiberian Hebrew Ezr short for "My help/court is God", Standard Hebrew Azriel Tiberian Hebrew Azriel was the "scribe" who led the second body of exiled Israelites that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in 459 BC, and the author o, and the rebuilding of the Second TempleThe Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem which stood between 515 BC and 70 CE. During this time, it was the center of Jewish worship, which focused on the sacrifices known as the korbanot''. The first Temple was destroyed when the Jews in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. Returning exiles considered the Samaritans to be non-Jews and, thus, not fit for this religious work. Later, ca. 129 BCE, the Jewish HasmoneanThe Hasmonean Kingdom in ancient Judea and its ruling dynasty from 140 BC to 63 BC was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after Judah the Maccabee defeated the Seleucid army in 165 BC. The family name of the Hasmonean dynast king Yohanan Girhan (John Hyrcanus) destroyed the Samaritan temple and devastated the land.
Samaritans fared badly under Roman rule60 and 400 with major cities. During this time only Dacia and Mesopotamia were added to the Empire but were lost before 300. The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman state in the centuries following its reorganization under t, when Samaria was part of the Roman province of JudeaJudea or Judaea "Praise", Standard Hebrew Yhuda Tiberian Hebrew Yhuh is a term used for the mountainous Southern part of the West Bank. In modern times, the name "Yehudah" is most often used by Zionists. Others prefer to use the collective name introduced, in the early part of the Common Era. Later, under Byzantine Emperor Zeno in the late fifth century, Samaritans and Jews were massacred. A Samaritan war to create their own independent state took place in 529; thousands of Samaritans died. The Samaritan faith was virtually outlawed by the Christian Byzantine Empire.
A large number of Samaritans fled the country in 634 CE, following the Muslim victory at the Battle of Yarmuk. During the mid 800s Muslim fanatics destroyed Samaritan and Jewish synagogues. During the 10th century relations between Muslims, Jews and Samaritans improved greatly. In the 1300s the Mamluks came to power; they plundered all Samaritan religious sites, and turned their shrines into mosques. Many Samaritans converted out of fear. After the Ottoman conquest, Muslim persecution of Samaritans increased again. Massacres were frequent. In 1624 the last Samaritan high priest of the line of Eleazar son of Aaron died without issue, but descendants of Aaron's other son Itamar remained among them and took over the office.
By the 1830s only a small group of Samaritans in Shechem remained extant. The local Arab population believed that Samaritans were " atheists" and "against Islam", and they threatened to murder the entire Samaritan community. The Samaritans turned to the Jewish community for help, as Jews and Arabs had good relations at this time, and Jewish entreaties to treat the Samaritans with respect were eventually heeded.
In the past, the Samaritans are believed to have numbered several hundred thousand, but persecution and assimilation have reduced their numbers drastically. In 1919, an illustrated National Geographic report on the community stated that their numbers were less than 150.
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