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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. In both the Bible and in nonbiblical sources the name Samaria occurs numerous times, either as the appellation of a city or as the designation of the region of which the city was the capital. Already at the end of the 19th century the site of the city was associated with that of the Arab village of Sebastiya, located 10 km (6 miles) northwest of Nablus and 56 km (35 miles) north of Jerusalem. The city was built on a hill that rises 430 m (1,410 feet) above sea level and was ideally situated to control the north–south and east–west routes, although it had no well of its own (only the Romans built an aqueduct to bring water from a source southeast of Samaria). The first excavations of the city were undertaken by Harvard University in 1908 and 1910; the latest were carried out from 1965 to 1967 and again in 1968. In the course of its history, the city was destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the Bible the district of Samaria is called Mount Ephraim. Geographically, it consists of the central region of the mountains of western Palestine, bordered in the east by the River Jordan, in the west by the Plain of Sharon, in the north by the Plain of Jezreel (Esdraelon), and in the south by the valley of Ayalon. Politically, the boundaries, particularly in the north and south, varied at different times. The name Samaria was applied to the region when the city of Samaria became the capital of the northern Israelite kingdom under King Omri in the 9th century BCE. In the biblical period, the majority of the population in the region were Yaweh worshipers (even after the Assyrian conquest in the late 8th century BCE), just as the Judeans to the south of them. Those Yahweh worshipers of the region of Samaria who eventually rejected Jerusalem and its temple as sacred centers are the Samaritans. For them, Mount Gerizim in the vicinity of ancient Shechem (modern Nablus) and the temple on it became the focus of religious life. They do not, however, consider their identity to be tied to that of the city or province of Samaria but see it based on the concept of guardians (Hebrew: shomrim); that is, they think of themselves as the guardians of the Torah.
  4.  
  5. Samaria, the City and Province
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  7. Samaria (Hebrew: Shomron) is mentioned in the Bible in 1 Kings 16:24 as the name of the mountain on which Omri, ruler of the northern Israelite kingdom in the 9th century BCE, built his capital, naming it also Samaria. After the conquest of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians in 722/721 BCE, the district surrounding the city was likewise called Samaria (Assyrian: Samerina). The Bible presents an etiology or folk etymology when it claims that the city was named after Shemer, the original owner from whom Omri bought the hill. It is more likely that the name is derived from the root šmr, to “watch, to guard;” that is, the hill was a point from which particularly the north–south route could be watched and guarded. In today’s terms, the ancient city of Samaria was located close to the Arab village of Sebastiya whose name is derived from Sebastos, the Greek equivalent of Augustus: Emperor Augustus gave the city to Herod the Great who named it after his benefactor. The region of Samaria has in recent times been the focus of renewed interest and archaeological research, leading to revisions of how its standing in ancient Palestine is assessed by scholars.
  8.  
  9. Surveys
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  11. The most recent surveys on the history of the city and province of Samaria in the biblical period are found in multivolume encyclopedias in different languages, in most cases illustrated with drawings and photographs of excavations. The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land contains two separate accounts, one for the city of Samaria (Avigad 1993) and one for the region of Samaria (Hovers, et al. 1993). The latter also covers prehistory as does Dar 1992. Briend 1991 is a detailed account of the city in French. German overviews can be found in Köckert 1998 and Naʿaman 2004. See also Franklin 2007.
  12.  
  13. Avigad, Nahman. “Samaria (City).” In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 4, Petra–Ziqim, Index. Edited by Ephraim Stern, 1300–1310. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993.
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  15. A summary account of the excavation results covering the time from the Israelite monarchy to the Byzantine period with photographs, drawings, and bibliography. Updated bibliography in Volume 5, edited by Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2008), pp. 2109–2110.
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  17. Briend, Jacques. “Samarie.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 11, fasc. 63–64a. Edited by Jacques Briend and Édouard Cothenet, 740–756. Paris: Letouzay & Ané, 1991.
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  19. A very detailed account in French of the history of the city and the excavations as well as a description of the main archaeological finds with a bibliography embedded in the text.
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  21. Dar, Shimon. “Samaria: Archaeological Survey of the Region.” In Anchor’s Bible Dictionary. Vol. 5, O–Sh. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 926–931. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
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  23. Discusses the finds according to the historical periods of the region from the early Bronze Age to the Roman period.
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  25. Franklin, Norma. “Samaria.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 17, Ra–Sam. 2d ed. Edited by Fred Skolnik, 716–718. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007.
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  27. An overview of the history and excavations of the city of Samaria with a site plan and additional bibliography.
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  29. Hovers, Erella, Adam Zertal, Israel Finkelstein, Shimon Dar, and Itzhak Magen. “Samaria (Region).” In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 4, Petra–Ziqim, Index. Edited by Ephraim Stern, 1313–1318. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993.
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  31. A detailed multiauthored, illustrated article, covering the time from prehistory to the Hellenistic and Roman-Byzantine period. Each section contains its own bibliography. Updated bibliography in the Volume 5, edited by Ephraim Stern (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2008), p. 2110).
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  33. Köckert, Matthias. “Samaria.” In Theologische Realenzyklopädie. Vol. 29, Religionspsychologie–Samaritaner. Edited by Gerhard Müller, 744–750. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1998.
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  35. Thorough overview in German with a bibliography on the history of the excavations and numerous other studies.
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  37. Naʿaman, Nadav. “Samaria.” In Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Vol. 7, R–S. 4th ed. Edited by Hans Dieter Betz, 814–816. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2004.
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  39. The entry is divided into two parts: Stadt and Provinz. Provides a concise summary with bibliography of the history of the city and the province from the 8th century BCE to the 6th century CE.
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  41. Israelite, Assyrian, and Persian Periods
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  43. The city of Samaria was the capital of the Northern Israelite Kingdom from King Omri to the Assyrian conquest in 722/721 BCE. The conquerors, making Samaria the capital of the province of Samerina, deported a number of Israelites and brought in foreigners from other parts of their empire. Recent archaeological investigations have shown that the northern and western zones of Samaria soon recovered from the ravages of the Assyrian attacks and prospered during the Persian period. Settlements increased greatly in numbers, and the system of roads was expanded. Although evidence for the city of Samaria is very sparse, the region around it was densely populated, from which it may be inferred that it was one of the leading cities in Palestine. Jerusalem and Judea were smaller than the city and region of Samaria, and the latter were more populous and better off in terms of material fortune, as in Knoppers 2006 and Stern 2001. The Wadi Daliyeh documents shed light on certain aspects of the Persian period in Samaria (see Dušek 2007, cited under History: Historiographical Studies), including the Israelite onomasticon of the time and the names of the district governors. The temple on Mount Gerizim was first built in the 5th century BCE (see Archaeology). In addition to the detailed survey articles cited under Surveys (Briend 1991 (cited under Surveys), Avigad 1993, and Köckert 1998 on the city of Samaria; Dar 1992 (cited under Mount Gerizim) and Hovers, et al. 1993 on the archaeology of the region of Samaria), Stern 2001 synthesizes what is known from archaeological excavations, and Knoppers 2004 and Knoppers 2006 profile the cultural and religious situation of Samaria after the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom and in the Persian period, respectively.
  44.  
  45. Knoppers, Gary N. “In Search of Post-exilic Israel: Samaria after the Fall of the Northern Kingdom.” In In Search of Pre-exilic Israel: Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Edited by John Day, 150–180. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 406. London: Clark, 2004.
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  47. Assyrian settlements of foreigners in Samaria were not extensive; the residents of Samerina were predominantly Israelites. The Yahwistic Samarians of the Persian period are descended from the Israelites whose kingdom in previous centuries was centered in Samaria.
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  49. Knoppers, Gary N. “Revisiting the Samarian Question in the Persian Period.” In Judah and the Judeans in the Persian Period. Edited by Oded Lipschits and Manfred Oeming, 265–289. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006.
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  51. Argues that recent archaeological discoveries show that in the Achaemenid era Samaria was more populous and more prosperous than Judea and Jerusalem and that material evidence shows cultural continuity between the two districts; the distinctions between the provinces of Samaria and Judah were above all administrative and political, not cultural.
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  53. Stern, Ephraim. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible. Vol. 2, The Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Periods, 732–332 BCE. New York: Doubleday, 2001.
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  55. A synthesis of the archaeological finds from the start of the Assyrian conquest in 732 BCE to the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, a time in which the region was controlled successively by Assyria, Babylonia, and Persia. Contains copious bibliography arranged according to periods and subjects.
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  57. Hellenistic and Roman Periods
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  59. During the Hellenistic period the population of Samaria decreased, and, according to Flavius Josephus and archaeological excavations, in 108/107 BCE John Hyrcanus destroyed the city. Earlier (i.e., 111/110 BCE) he had also destroyed Shechem and the city on Mount Gerizim, neither of which was ever rebuilt. A new Roman city, Flavia Neapolis, was founded by Emperor Vespasian in the vicinity of ancient Shechem. The modern city of Nablus derives its name from Neapolis. Knoppers 2010 discusses the religious culture of Samaria during this period. From the works of Flavius Josephus we know that in 63 BCE. Pompey incorporated Samaria into the Roman province of Syria and separated it from Judea; the city of Samaria was rebuilt, and in c. 54 BCE. Emperor Augusts bestowed it on Herod the Great who not only called it Sebaste but also made it a splendid city, surrounding it with a wall, building temples, a stadium, and other public edifices. Devastated by Jewish rebels in the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 CE), it was rebuilt by Emperor Severus in the 2nd century CE. Most of the ruins visible today date from this time. By 300 CE the city was only a small town, and it remained so in the Muslim period. Magen 2009 is a lavishly illustrated history of Roman Neapolis.
  60.  
  61. Knoppers, Gary N. “Aspects of Samaria’s Religious Culture during the Early Hellenistic Period.” In The Historian and the Bible: Essays in Honour of Lester L. Grabbe. Edited by Philip R. Davies and Diana V. Edelman, 159–174. London: Clark, 2010.
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  63. Based on the recently discovered inscriptions on Mount Gerizim, the article discusses the religious culture reflected in them.
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  65. Magen, Yitzhak. Flavia Neapolis: Shechem in the Roman Period. 2 vols. Judea and Samaria Publications 11. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2009.
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  67. Originally published in Hebrew in 2005, the work is based on the archaeological excavations during the years 1979 to 1986. It includes numerous photographs, drawings, plans, and tables of the city and the finds.
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  69. Samaritans, the Religious Community
  70.  
  71. The region of Samaria has been the home of the Samaritans from pre-Christian times to today. They, however, do not deduce their name from the area, but from the root “to guard” in the sense that they see themselves as the guardians of the Law (i.e., the Torah). Notwithstanding the biblical report in 2 Kings 17.24–41 and its later exegesis and eisegesis (i.e., reading one’s preconceived notions into the text rather than drawing meaning out of the text), there is no doubt in the mind of contemporary scholars that Samaritanism is a branch of the Israelite religion. In the past—and unfortunately all too often still in the present—the Samaritans were seen as a mixed people descended from the population settled in the province of Samaria by the Assyrians. While in Samaritan and Old Testament scholarship this view has been shown to be wrong, popular works and works of haute vulgarisation—or even works in neighboring disciplines—often take no note of the results of specialized inquiry and continue to refer to the Samaritans as descendants of semipagans. In reality, they are descendants of Yahweh worshiping Israelites who built their own temple on Mount Gerizim in Palestine, rejected the temple in Jerusalem, and became an independent religion. Despite the loss of their temple, numerous vicissitudes endured by the members of the community in the course of over two thousand years, and the diminution of their numbers to a minuscule size, the religion has survived to the present. Today, Samaritans live on their sacred mountain, Mount Gerizim, by Nablus, and in Ḥolon, a suburb of Tel Aviv. The study of the Samaritan tradition is currently experiencing an intense and accelerated research and publication activity. In 1985 a scholarly association, the Société d’Études Samaritaines, was founded in Paris, focusing on all aspects of the Samaritan tradition—religion, history, archaeology, linguistics, and anthropology. Congresses, held at regular intervals, bring together specialists in these areas as well as in related fields, such as biblical and Arabic studies. The most recent overviews are articles published in reference works. However, to gain a deeper insight into the study of Samaritans and Samaritanism, familiarity with the classical studies is essential. They were the ones that for the first time synthesized the information found in primary and secondary sources scattered over a wide variety of publications and added their own insights, gained in some cases from personal contacts with the Samaritans. Among the introductory works, those by single authors are intended for a wider readership, whereas works by several authors are addressed to a specialized audience. Given the current frequency with which reference works are published, recent Dictionary and Lexica Articles contain the most up-to-date overviews, synthesizing the results published first in specialized periodicals and books.
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  73. Samaritan Studies, Reference Works
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  75. A number of shorter bibliographies are available, published in various periodicals, dictionaries, lexica, or books at different times and covering different facets of the Samaritan tradition and related fields. They are listed in the most comprehensive bibliography in Crown and Pummer 2005 (see the Subject Index under “Bibliographies”). The first edition was published in 1984 and the second in 1993. The most recent edition contains almost two thousand more entries than its predecessor. For the ongoing publications see the online bibliographies of biblical and Jewish studies, all multilingual: ATLA Religion Database, BiBIL (Biblical Bibliography of Lausanne), BILDI (Documentation for Biblical Literature Innsbruck), and RAMBI (Index of Articles on Jewish Studies). Crown, et al. 1993 is the only reference work dedicated exclusively to Samaritan studies. The history of research is traced in Dexinger and Pummer 1992. More publications dealing with the history of research are listed in Crown and Pummer 2005 (see the Subject Index, under “Research”). Hjelm 2004 discusses recent trends in Samaritan studies.
  76.  
  77. ATLA Religion Database.
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  79. Indexes books, journal articles, and book reviews, with coverage from 1949 and for some journals even to the 19th century. Accessible through university libraries.
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  81. BiBIL: Biblical Bibliography of Lausanne.
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  83. Organized and maintained by the Institut romand des sciences bibliques of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Freely accessible.
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  85. BILDI: Documentation for Biblical Literature Innsbruck.
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  87. A first-rate source of bibliographic information from the Department for Biblical Studies and Historical Theology of the Faculty for Catholic Theology of the University of Innsbruck in Austria. Freely accessible.
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  89. Crown, Alan David, and Reinhard Pummer. A Bibliography of the Samaritans. 3d ed. ATLA Bibliography 51. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005.
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  91. A total of 5,484 alphabetically arranged entries dating from the 16th century to 2005 with an alphabetical Subject Index. It supplements, corrects, and adds to the 1993 second edition and includes reviews, abstracts, and notes for many of the works cited.
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  93. Crown, Alan David, Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal, eds. A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1993.
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  95. An encyclopedic dictionary of the Samaritans that is a companion to Crown 1989 (cited under Multiauthor Works) and is meant to be used in conjunction with the latter, although it can also be used as an independent reference work. Contains additional material not covered in the Crown 1989 volume.
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  97. Dexinger, Ferdinand, and Reinhard Pummer, eds. Die Samaritaner. Wege der Forschung 604. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1992.
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  99. As the title of the collection, “Wege der Forschung,” indicates, the work traces the development of Samaritan studies over a certain period, in this case from 1925 to 1991, through representative German, English, and Hebrew (in German translation) articles and chapters of books.
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  101. Hjelm, Ingrid. “What Do Samaritans and Jews Have in Common? Recent Trends in Samaritan Studies.” Currents in Biblical Research 3.1 (2004): 9–59.
  102. DOI: 10.1177/1476993X0400300103Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  103. The author discusses a great number of books and articles published in the years immediately prior to 2003 with the aim to “offer a base for the necessary rewriting of both Samaritan and Jewish history” (p. 9). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  105. RAMBI: The Index of Articles on Jewish Studies.
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  107. A selective bibliography of articles on Jewish studies, including Samaritan subjects, compiled by the National Library of Israel and freely accessible. It now offers an RSS feed.
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  109. Foundational Works
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  111. There are a number of classical books that represent important foundational works for Samaritan studies. Modern research into Samaritanism has its beginnings with the authors of these monographs. Although their works are inevitably dated in certain respects, they still contain valuable information of which readers should be aware when studying the Samaritan tradition. The main studies are Montgomery 1907, Gaster 1925, Ben-Zvi 1970 (first edition published in 1935), and Kippenberg 1971. Moses Gaster was one of the most prolific authors to publish on a great variety of Samaritan subjects. However, his views differ drastically from other scholars in his depiction of Samaritanism in following grosso modo the Samaritans’ own view of history. A new milestone was Kippenberg 1971, which became an essential guide to Samaritan studies, putting the latter on a new footing. Other works that belong in this category are Purvis 1968 and Coggins 1975 (both cited under Origin of the Samaritans).
  112.  
  113. Ben-Zvi, Itzhak. Sefer ha-Šōmrōnīm. Rev. ed. Edited by Shemaryahu Talmon and Yeshayahu Gafni. Jerusalem: Yad Itzhak Ben-Zvi, 1970.
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  115. The first edition appeared in 1935. Ben-Zvi took a special interest in the Samaritans and knew them and their traditions intimately. Especially valuable are the chapters on the Samaritan settlements, inscriptions, and manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch. In Hebrew.
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  117. Gaster, Moses. The Samaritans: Their History, Doctrines and Literature. The Schweich Lectures 1923. London: Oxford University Press, 1925.
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  119. In Gaster’s view, the Samaritans have lived in Shechem and worshiped on Mount Gerizim for three thousand years and preserved their religion unchanged; in his words, it “has been handed down direct from generation to generation, that the utmost reliance can be placed upon it” (p. 45). For their history he follows the Samaritan Chronicles.
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  121. Kippenberg, Hans Gerhard. Garizim und Synagoge: Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur samaritanischen Religion der aramäischen Periode. Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten 30. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1971.
  122. DOI: 10.1515/9783110828214Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  123. A meticulous and in-depth investigation into the history and religious traditions of early Samaritanism from the establishment of the Gerizim cult to the Byzantine period, based on detailed analyses of primary sources translated into German.
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  125. Montgomery, James Alan. The Samaritans: The Earliest Jewish Sect: Their History, Theology and Literature. Philadelphia: Winston, 1907.
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  127. Reprinted with a new introduction in 1968 (New York, Ktav) and translated into French with additional bibliography in 1985 (Les hommes du Garizim: Histoire, théologie, littérature des Samaritains: Avec une bibliographie Samaritaine mise à jour. Paris: OEIL). An excellent synthesis of what was known about the Samaritans at the time of publication, based on thorough familiarity with primary and secondary sources. Still useful as an introduction to the subjects enumerated in the subtitle.
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  129. Single Author Works
  130.  
  131. A number of introductions are available for a wider readership in English, French, and Dutch. A recent English introduction is Anderson and Giles 2002. Pummer 1987 presents an illustrated and thematically and chronologically organized account that introduces the main aspects of Samaritan history and religion. Magen 2008 covers a variety of subjects. In French single author works include Callebaut 1990, Poliakov 1991, and Faü and Crown 2001. A concise introduction in Dutch is van der Horst 2004.
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  133. Anderson, Robert T., and Terry Giles. The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002.
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  135. Written in a lively style, the book is well suited for introductory courses. The text is enriched with quotations from primary sources, maps, photographs, a bibliography arranged by topics, and an index. The point of departure and the subject of the final chapter (pp. 135–144) is the Chamberlain Warren Samaritan Collection at Michigan State University.
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  137. Callebaut, Paul-Jacques. Les Derniers Samaritains. Mémoire des Hommes. Paris: ASFAR, 1990.
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  139. The value of this popular account lies in its many photographs—some historical, but most contemporary and in color—by an accomplished journalist and film maker. Despite his pessimistic view expressed in the title, Callebaut hopes that his book will contribute to the rebirth (renaissance) of this people.
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  141. Faü, Jean-François, and Alan David Crown. Les Samaritains: Rescapé de 2700 ans d’Histoire. Civilisation hébraïque. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose, 2001.
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  143. A short introduction to the Samaritan tradition from biblical to modern times with photographs and helpful tables.
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  145. Magen, Yitzhak. The Samaritans and the Good Samaritan. Edited by Noga Carmin. Translated by Edward Levin. Judea and Samaria Publications 7. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2008.
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  147. Chapters on Samaritan history, synagogues, art and material culture, the Samaritans today, and the Inn of the Good Samaritan. Richly illustrated, partly in color. Some chapters are translations from Stern and Eshel 2002 (cited under Multi-Author Works).
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  149. Poliakov, Léon. Les Samaritains, suivi d’une etude de Gilles Firmin: A propos du Pentateuque Samaritain. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1991.
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  151. Translated into Spanish in 1992 (Los samaritanos. Madrid: Anaya & Muchnik). A historical overview from biblical times to the 20th century.
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  153. Pummer, Reinhard. The Samaritans. Iconography of Religions 23.5. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1987.
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  155. Overview of the Samaritan tradition past and present, illustrated by over one hundred photographs in black and white and in color, each with a detailed commentary and with cross-references to the Introduction describing the Samaritan tradition in a chronological and systematic presentation.
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  157. van der Horst, Pieter W. De Samaritanen: Geschiedenis en godsdienst van een vergeten groepering. Serie Wegwijs. Kampen, The Netherlands: Kok, 2004.
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  159. The only introduction in Dutch, the book presents a concise and reliable summary of the history and religion of the Samaritans. A second edition is in preparation.
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  161. Multiauthor Works
  162.  
  163. Multiauthor comprehensive works are addressed to readers who have a grounding in biblical studies and are looking for detailed information on the Samaritans. They deal with all or the main subjects concerning Samaritans and are collective undertakings in which specialists in the various areas authored the respective chapters. The two most authoritative works in this category are Crown 1989 in English and Stern and Eshel 2002 in Hebrew.
  164.  
  165. Crown, Alan D., ed. The Samaritans. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  167. The most comprehensive work on the Samaritans, written by over twenty specialists and arranged in fifteen thematic chapters ranging from Samaritan history, material remains, diaspora, and literature to music and manuscripts. Although in need of updating and correction in certain details, it remains a fundamental resource for Samaritan studies.
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  169. Stern, Ephraim, and Hanan Eshel, eds. Sefer ha-Shomronim. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi, 2002.
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  171. Presents in Hebrew translation a number of the articles first published in Crown 1989 but includes also a good deal of new material, in particular on archaeological finds. In Hebrew.
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  173. Dictionary and Lexica Articles
  174.  
  175. Numerous shorter or longer dictionary and encyclopedia articles present brief introductions to Samaritan history and institutions. Due to the latest developments in Samaritan studies, however, articles written before the recent excavations on Mount Gerizim (see Archaeology) and the new insights into the Samaritan text of the Pentateuch (see Pentateuch) as well as the history of Samaria (see Israelite, Assyrian and Persian Periods and Hellenistic and Roman Periods), must be checked against newer publications. Among the recent articles in multivolume works are Anderson 1992, Anderson 2009, and Matassa 2007; the latter is a multi-author article in the second edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica. It is largely a reprint from the first edition of the Encyclopaedia published in 1972, only the first part of the “History” section of the Samaritans is newly written by Matassa; the section on the Late Roman to Crusader Period is an abridged reprint of the 1972 article by John Macdonald; the account of the Later History and the Statistics section are verbatim reprints of Benyamim Tsedaka’s contribution from 1972, the latter containing one additional sentence about the number of the Samaritans in 2005; the Religion and Customs section is again a verbatim reprint of Macdonald’s 1972 article, as are the chapters on Holidays and Festivals by Tsedaka, those on Samaritan Chronology and Language and Literature by Ayala Loewenstamm, and the short paragraph on the Samaritans in Islam by Haïm Z’ew Hirschberg; the Musical Tradition section by Shlomo Hofman is a reprint from the 1972 edition (Supplementary Entries in Volume 16) minus the examples of musical notations; and the original bibliography is supplemented by newer publications (unfortunately, A Bibliography of the Samaritans by Alan D. Crown is quoted in its first edition from 1984, rather than in its third edition from 2005; see Crown 2005, cited under Samaritan Studies Reference Works). Shorter, but more up to date is the German overview, Böhm 2010. A detailed French account, with extensive bibliographies for each section, is Baillet 1991.
  176.  
  177. Anderson, Robert T. “Samaritans.” In Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 5, O–Sh. Edited by David Noel Freedman, 940–947. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
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  179. A detailed account of Samaritan origins, history, literature, beliefs, and practices with bibliography.
  180. Find this resource:
  181. Anderson, Robert T. “Samaritans.” In The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Vol. 5, S–Z. Edited by Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, 75–82. Nashville: Abingdon, 2009.
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  183. Covers the same subjects as the previous article but takes into account the new archaeological excavations.
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  185. Baillet, Maurice. “Samaritains.” In Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible. Vol. 11, fasc. 63–64a. Edited by Jacques Briend and Édouard Cothenet, 773–1047. Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1991.
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  187. A thorough treatment, in French, of all aspects of Samaritanism with exhaustive bibliographies for each area.
  188. Find this resource:
  189. Böhm, Martina. “Samaritaner.” In Das wissenschaftliche Bibellexikon im Internet (WiBiLex). Edited by Michaela Bauks and Klaus Koenen. 2010.
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  191. Summarizes in German the main aspects under the headings: terminology, sources, origin of the Gerizim community, history since the Persian period, theological characteristics, and the modern Samaritans.
  192. Find this resource:
  193. Matassa, Lidia D., John Macdonald, Benyamim Tsedaka, Ayala Loewenstamm, H. Hirschberg, and S. Hofman. “Samaritans.” In Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 17, Ra–Sam. 2d ed. Edited by Fred Skolnik, 718–740. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2007.
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  195. Except for the introduction by Matassa and some additions to the bibliography, this multiauthor article is in essence a reprint from the 1972 edition of the Encyclopaedia Judaica.
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  197. Anthologies of Samaritan Texts
  198.  
  199. The Samaritan literature is vast and widely scattered over numerous manuscripts and a relatively small number of critical editions and translations. The few collections that exist include only certain fields, such as liturgical texts in Cowley 1909 and grammatical texts in Ben-Ḥayyim 1957–1977. For the student, a number of source collections are available in translation, sampling different genres: in English Bowman 1977 and Anderson and Giles 2005 and in German Kippenberg 1979 and Zangenberg 1994.
  200.  
  201. Anderson, Robert T., and Terry Giles. Tradition Kept: The Literature of the Samaritans. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005.
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  203. A companion volume to Anderson and Giles 2002 (cited under Single Author Works), this book is an introduction to Samaritan literature, presenting selections from significant (for the Samaritans) works that are accessible to a general readership and helpful for the beginning student. Includes texts ranging from the Samaritan Pentateuch to medieval amulets.
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  205. Ben-Ḥayyim, Zeʾev. The Literary and Oral Tradition of Hebrew and Aramaic amongst the Samaritans. 5 vols. Studies (Academy of the Hebrew Language) 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, and 11. Jerusalem: Academy of the Hebrew Language, 1957–1977.
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  207. In Hebrew. An indispensable tool for Samaritan studies. An English version of the final conclusions of the series is printed in Crown 1989 (cited under Multi-Author Works). A revised English version of Volume 5 was published in 2000 (A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison With the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions. Rev. ed. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns).
  208. Find this resource:
  209. Bowman, John, ed. Samaritan Documents Relating to Their History, Religion and Life. Translated by John Bowman. Pittsburgh Original Texts and Translations Series 2. Pittsburgh, PA: Pickwick, 1977.
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  211. Excerpts, in English translation, from the Samaritan Pentateuch, Chronicles, biblical commentaries, haggadic midrash, halakhah, and liturgy, with introductions and commentary.
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  213. Cowley, Arthur E. The Samaritan Liturgy. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1909.
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  215. Edition of common prayers, prayers for Passover, Pentecost, Seventh Month, marriage, circumcision, and burial. Discusses the author’s editing method, the manuscripts used, and the dates of the texts. Completed by a grammar of the Aramaic texts, a list of high priests, genealogical tables, glossary, index of first lines, and index of authors.
  216. Find this resource:
  217. Kippenberg, Hans Gerhard. “Die Samaritaner.” In Textbuch zur neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte. Edited by Hans Gerhard Kippenberg and Gerd A. Wewers, 89–106. Grundrisse zum Neuen Testament 8. Göttingen, West Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1979.
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  219. German translations of Samaritan compositions relating to the Gerizim cult, liturgy, eschatology, Gnosticism, and rabbinic traditions. Each section is preceded by a short introduction.
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  221. Zangenberg, Jürgen. Samareia: Antike Quellen zur Geschichte und Kultur der Samaritaner in deutscher Übersetzung. Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter 15. Tübingen, Germany: Francke, 1994.
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  223. A selection of texts, in German translation, about and by the Samaritans to illustrate the history, culture, and religion of this group in the time of the New Testament with short introductions and bibliography.
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  225. Origin of the Samaritans
  226.  
  227. The question of the origin of the Samaritans is a problem that has preoccupied critical scholarship for a long time without finding a generally agreeable answer. There are of course different accounts of how the Samaritans began, differing according to the group with which the accounts originate—Samaritans, Jews, Christians, and scholars of the Bible and of Samaritanism all have their own versions. Most scholars now agree that Yahwists held an uninterrupted presence in the North. The question is when did the Samarian Yahwists begin to go their separate ways from the Judean Yahwists and become Samaritans in the sense of Yahwists who reject the Jerusalem temple and consider Mount Gerizim as the only legitimate holy place for the worship of Yahweh. Apart from numerous articles that approach this problem from different angles, there are some seminal studies and a number of recent works. Among the former are Purvis 1968 and Coggins 1975, two books which gave an important impetus to Samaritan studies due to their clear and methodic presentation. Their readability makes them valuable despite the developments in Samaritan studies that have occurred since their publication. Both authors date the origin of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the period of the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE and emphasize that it was not the building of the temple on Mount Gerizim that caused the separation between Jews and Samaritans, positions that are still held by the majority of Samaritan scholars of today. Although Josephus and the New Testament already speak of the two religious groups as distinct, Crown 1991 dates the separation of the Samaritans from the Judeans in the 3rd century CE. Dexinger 1992 analyzes the early sources relevant to the question of Samaritan origins. The most recent book-length publications on the origin of the Samaritans are Kartveit 2009, Knoppers 2013, Nodet 1997, and Nodet 2010. Nodet’s position is considerably different from the views held by the majority of scholars. Kartveit examines in detail the available literary and archaeological evidence to determine the origin of the Samaritans. Knoppers 2013 is the latest addition to the works dealing with this question.
  228.  
  229. Coggins, Richard J. Samaritans and Jews: The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered. Growing Points in Theology. Oxford: Blackwell, 1975.
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  231. Demonstrates that the Old Testament and later Jewish writings cannot be used to reconstruct the origin and early history of the Samaritans. The temple was not the cause of the separation between Jews and Samaritans. Samaritanism emerged in the time from the 3rd century BCE to the beginning of the Christian era.
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  233. Crown, Alan D. “Redating the Schism Between the Judaeans and the Samaritans.” Jewish Quarterly Review 82.1–2 (1991): 17–50.
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  235. The irreconcilable breach between Judaeans and Samaritans is dated by Crown here to the 3rd century CE, when heretical Samaritanism took shape, adopting a separate Pentateuch, its own synagogues, liturgy, and schools for the elaboration of the Samaritan halakhah. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  237. Dexinger, Ferdinand. “Der Ursprung der Samaritaner im Spiegel der frühen Quellen.” In Die Samaritaner. Edited by Ferdinand Dexinger and Reinhard Pummer, 67–140. Wege der Forschung 604. Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1992.
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  239. A complete revision of Dexinger’s article “Limits of Tolerance in Judaism: The Samaritan Example,” in Jewish and Christian Self-Definition. Vol. 2, Aspects of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman Period. Edited by E. P. Sanders, A. I. Baumgarten, and Alan Mendelson (London: SCM, 1981), pp. 88–114; he adds precision to his arguments and a section on the history of research. Treats in extenso 2 Kings 17:24–41; the books of Ezra and Chronicles; Josephus, Antiquities 9:288–291 and 11:302–347; Ben Sira 50:25–26; and 2 Maccabees 6:1–2.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Kartveit, Magnar. The Origin of the Samaritans. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 128. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2009.
  242. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004178199.i-406Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  243. The first book-length study in thirty-five years on the origin of the Samaritans. Marshaling copious evidence for the antagonism between Jews and Samaritans in the 2nd century BCE, Kartveit concludes nevertheless that the Samaritans originated in the early 4th century BCE when they built the temple on Mount Gerizim.
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  245. Knoppers, Gary N. Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
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  247. A thorough and in-depth treatment of all aspects of the relationship between the two groups from the events depicted in 2 Kings 17 to the Roman period. Emphasizes that no complete breach occurred but cultural exchange continued in Roman and Byzantine times despite considerable frictions.
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  249. Nodet, Étienne. A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah. Translated by Ed Crowley. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 248. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic, 1997.
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  251. A revision and English translation (completed in 1993) of Nodet’s Essai sur les origins du judaïsme (Paris: Cerf, 1992). Proposes a radical reconstruction of the history of early Judaism. The Samaritans are said to be the successors of the early Israelites; the Pentateuch was produced by them in Shechem.
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  253. Nodet, Étienne. Samaritains, Juifs, Temples. Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 74. Paris: Gabalda, 2010.
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  255. A slightly modified English version (“Israelites, Samaritans, Temples, and Jews”) appears in Samaria, Samarians, Samaritans: Studies on Bible, History and Linguistics, edited by József Zsengellér (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2011), pp. 121–171. Nodet again aims to show that “the Samaritans of Shechem are the heirs of the early Israelites, and not a downgraded Jewish sect” (“Israelites, Samaritans, Temples, and Jews,” p. 121).
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Purvis, James. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Origin of the Samaritan Sect. Harvard Semitic Monographs 2. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
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  259. What brought about the decisive breach between Jews and Samaritans was not the construction of the temple on Mount Gerizim but the redaction and promulgation of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the 2nd century BCE and the destruction of the Gerizim temple by John Hyrcanus.
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  261. The Samaritans in the Bible
  262.  
  263. While there is no doubt that the Samaritans in the sense of Samarian Yahwists whose focus of religious devotion is Mount Gerizim to the exclusion of Jerusalem are mentioned several times in the New Testament, the same cannot be said about the Old Testament. Apart from the two Septuagint verses in 2 Maccabees 5:23 and 6:2, the significance of other passages that are asserted, at some time or another, to hint at the split and hostility between Jews and Samaritans in the Old Testament is less than certain.
  264.  
  265. The Old Testament
  266.  
  267. Traditionally, the first mention of the Samaritans in the Bible was believed to occur in 2 Kings 17:29 where the English translations, from the King James Version to the Revised Standard Version, translate the Hebrew term shomronim as Samaritans (the New Revised Standard Version and the translation of the Jewish Publication Society render it as “the people of Samaria”). The passage 2 Kings 17:24–41 was then considered to recount the origins of this religious community (see Knoppers 2004, cited under Israelite, Assyrian, and Persian Periods; Knoppers 2013, cited under Origin of the Samaritans). Numerous analyses of the passage have shown, however, that the reference is not to later Samaritans and, in addition, that the population living in the North was at no time composed only of foreign settlers but always comprised Yahweh-worshiping Israelites throughout the biblical period of the area. At least since the writings of Flavius Josephus this passage was understood to speak of the origin of the Samaritans. Similarly it was Josephus who read the later conflicts between Jews and Samaritans into the biblical accounts of the events following the return from the Babylonian exile in the late 6th century BCE, particularly in the account in Ezra 4:1–5. In fact, it has become clear that Samaritans are nowhere mentioned in the whole Book of Ezra. Neither the “enemies of Judah and Benjamin” in Ezra 4:1 nor the “people of the land” in Ezra 4:4 can be identified with the Samaritans in the sense defined above. Josephus’s depiction is clearly tendentious. It was accepted by many later interpreters but has now been rejected as untenable. Other Old Testament passages have also been proposed as allusions to, or evidence of, anti-Samaritan polemics in the Hebrew Bible, ranging from sections in the Book of Judges and the Book of Chronicles to Zechariah, to name only some of them. Assis 2010 and Na’aman 2011 are two recent examples. Such hypotheses depend, among other factors, on the perspective of the respective scholars, on how the Samaritan community is defined, and in what time the particular Old Testament texts are dated. At the other end of the spectrum are those scholars who agree with Coggins’s conclusion (see Coggins 1975, cited under Origin of the Samaritans) that “there is no reference to the Samaritans in the Hebrew Old Testament” (p. 163) as well as the recent assessment along the same lines in Albertz 1992.
  268.  
  269. Albertz, Rainer. Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit. Volume 2, Vom Exil bis zu den Makkabäern. Grundrisse zum Alten Testament, Das Alte Testament Deutsch, Ergän-zungsreihe 8.2. Göttingen, Germany: Vandhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992.
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  271. Examines biblical passages purportedly referring to the Samaritans and concludes that the books of the Old Testament do not refer to the Samaritans in the strict sense. An English translation of the book (A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period. Louisville: Westminster John Knox) was published in 1994.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Assis, Elie. “Zechariah’s Vision of the Ephah (Zech. 5:5–11).” Vetus Testamentum 60.1 (2010): 15–32.
  274. DOI: 10.1163/004249310X12597406253328Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. Proposes a new solution to the enigma of this passage by interpreting it as an anti-Samaritan prophecy. Assis concludes, “The woman in the ephah represents the Samaritans; the vision foresees their return to their original home in Babylon, where their temple would be erected” (p. 15). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  277. Na’aman, Nadav. “A Hidden Anti-Samaritan Polemic in the Story of Abimelech and Shechem (Judges 9).” Biblische Zeitschrift 55.1 (2011): 1–20.
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  279. Post-exilic editors manipulated parts of the original Abimelech story and inserted their own additions to give it an anti-Samaritan slant.
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  281. The New Testament
  282.  
  283. No other ancient source has contributed as much to the fame of the Samaritans as the New Testament. It is here that we find the well-known parable of the Good Samaritan, the story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, and several other accounts that still define this community in the minds of the Christians and, in fact, of people all over the world. The main texts about them are contained in three canonical gospels: the Gospel of Matthew (10:5b–6, Jesus commands his disciples not to enter a town of the Samaritans), the Gospel of Luke (9:51–53, a village of the Samaritans refuses to give hospitality to Jesus on his way to Jerusalem; 10.25–37, the story of the Good Samaritan; and 17.11–19, the grateful Samaritan leper), and the Gospel of John (4.4–42, Jesus and the Samaritan woman; and 8.48, Jesus is accused of being a Samaritan). Neither Samaria nor the Samaritans are mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, which may be an indication that there was little interaction between the historical Jesus and the Samaritans, as in Meier 2000. Nor do Samaritans figure in any of the New Testament letters, despite the fact that there existed a Samaritan diaspora (see Geographical Distribution). Some scholars in the 19th and the second half of the 20th centuries, particularly in the English-speaking world, believed that Stephen’s speech in Acts 7 has affinities with Samaritan traditions. On closer examination, however, it becomes apparent that none of the concepts in the speech adduced to support this hypothesis are restricted to the Samaritan milieu. This negation of a relationship with the Samaritans is one of the results of the thorough recent analyses not only of Luke’s pericopes about the Samaritans (in his Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles) but also of other relevant New Testament passages in Böhm 1999. For Samaria and the Samaritans in the Gospel of John, see Zangenberg 1998. Frey 2012 reexamines the pertinent passages in Luke’s work and in the Gospel of John to determine what position the Samaritans hold in the mind of the authors and their readers.
  284.  
  285. Böhm, Martina. Samarien und die Samaritai bei Lukas: Eine Studie zum religionshistorischen und traditionsgeschichtlichen Hintergrund der lukanischen Samarientexte und zu deren topographischer Verhaftung. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1999.
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  287. A well-informed and thorough discussion of all issues related to Samaria and the Samaritans in Luke and other biblical and extrabiblical writings, covering in detail literary and archaeological aspects of the pertinent sources.
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  289. Frey, Jörg. “‘Gute’ Samaritaner? Das neutestamentliche Bild der Samaritaner zwischen Juden, Christen und Paganen.” In Die Samaritaner und die Bibel: Historische und literarische Wechselwirkungen zwischen biblischen und samaritanischen Traditionen. Edited by Jörg Frey, Ursula Schattner-Rieser, and Konrad Schmid, 203–233. Studia Judaica 70. Studia Samaritana 7. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012.
  290. DOI: 10.1515/9783110294361Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. In the New Testament accounts referring to Samaritans, historical data and polemical applications are entwined in a web that is difficult to disentangle. The infrequent mention of Samaritans indicates that for most early Christians they were no longer relevant, especially so for the communities in the diaspora. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Meier, John P. “The Historical Jesus and the Historical Samaritans: What Can Be Said?” Biblica 81.2 (2000): 202–232.
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  295. Emphasizes the distinction between Samarians and Samaritans and concludes that the little hard data that exist show that Jesus was favorably disposed toward the Samaritans but had no plans for a mission among them.
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  297. Zangenberg, Jürgen. Frühes Christentum in Samarien: Topographische und traditionsgeschichtliche Studien zu den Samarientexten im Johannesevangelium. Texte und Arbeiten zum neutestamentlichen Zeitalter 27. Tübingen, Germany: Francke, 1998.
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  299. Takes as point of departure the information about the localities of early Christianity contained in John’s Gospel to ascertain the religious and cultural profile of the region of Samaria, carefully analyzing the relevant passages in John’s Gospel with an excursus on Matthew 10:5.
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  301. The Samaritans in Rabbinic Literature
  302.  
  303. Samaritans figure in many rabbinic writings, and one of the “Seven Smaller Tractates from Palestine” (Shevaʿ massekhtot qeṭanot Yerushalmiot) is devoted to them, namely, the tractate Kutim, the usual rabbinic designation of the Samaritans (see Lehnardt 1999 and Goldstein and Katzman 2010). In connection with the Gospel of Matthew, Strack and Billerbeck 1922 compiles a list of references in the rabbinic writings. Montgomery 1907 (cited under Foundational Works) contains the chapter “The Samaritans in the Talmuds and Other Rabbinic Literature” (pp. 165–195). However, no book-length comprehensive study of the Samaritans in rabbinic literature has been published, only studies dealing with specific facets of the relationship between the adherents of the two religions. For the attitude of the members of the two communities to each other in the time of the Mishna and the Talmud, see Gafni 1969. The origin of the Samaritans according to Jewish halakhah is discussed in Alon 1977. Schiffman 1985 and Schiffman 2012 examine the status of the Samaritans in early (tannaitic) and later (amoraic) sources. Jewish polemics in aggadah are studied in Heinemann 1977. The difficulties with the rabbinic sources are well known: They concern above all the problems of the dating of given traditions as well as the question of whether or how far a tradition is historical or a literary creation that was constructed to make a point (see Lehnardt 2002).
  304.  
  305. Alon, Gedalyahu. “The Origin of the Samaritans in the Halakhic Tradition.” In Jews, Judaism and the Classical World: Studies in Jewish History in the Times of the Second Temple and Talmud. Translated by Israel Abrahams. By Gedalyahu Alon, 354–373. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1977.
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  307. Originally in Hebrew, Meḥkarim be-toldot Yisrael bi-yeme Bayit sheni uvi-teḳufat ha-Mishnah ṿeha-Talmud (Tel-Aviv, Israel: ha-Ḳibuts ha-meʼuḥad, 1957); English edition reprinted in 1997 (Jerusalem: Magnes). Distinguishes in the rabbinic sources three divergent traditions about the origin of the Samaritans: They are descendants of the settlers brought in by the Assyrians; they are “Cutheans” but intermingled with Jews; they are offspring of the ancient Canaanites.
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  309. Gafni, Yeshayahu. “Ha-yaḥasim beyn ha-Yehudim we-ha-Shomronim bi-tequfat ha-Mishna we-ha-Talmud.” MA diss., Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1969.
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  311. Consists of four parts: the geographic distribution of the Samaritans, the Samaritans in Jewish halakhah, the Samaritans in aggadah and in midrash, the relations of the Samaritans with the Jews and the Roman government. In Hebrew.
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  313. Goldstein, Yitzhak and Tuvia Katzman. Tractate Kutim: of the Minor Tractates, with Variant Readings and Commentaries and the Article “Kutim” from the Talmudic Encyclopedia. Jerusalem: Talmudic Encyclopedia Institute, 2010 (Hebrew and Aramaic).
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  315. A new critical edition, with annotations, of the extra-Talmudic tractate on the Samaritans
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  317. Heinemann, Joseph. “Anti-Samaritan Polemics in the Aggadah.” In Proceedings of the Sixth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Vol. 3. Edited by Avigdor Shinan, 57–69. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1977.
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319. The aggadot examined concern the bitter polemics about the chosen place—Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim.
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  321. Lehnardt, Andreas. “Das außerkanonische Talmud-Traktat Kutim (Samaritaner) in der innerrabinischen Überlieferung.” Frankfurter judaistische Beiträge 26 (1999): 111–138.
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  323. An analysis of the tractate “Kutim” with an annotated translation into German. The tractate represents a revision of older traditions, transferring rules originally referring to non-Jews to the Samaritans who are not to be treated as ordinary pagans but at the same time are not to be treated as Jews.
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  325. Lehnardt, Andreas. “The Samaritans (Kutim) in the Talmud Yerushalmi: Constructs of ‘Rabbinic Mind’ or Reflections of Social Reality?” In The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture. Vol. 3. Edited by Peter Schäfer, 139–160. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 79. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.
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  327. The evidence examined shows that the Samaritans were seen as non-Jews. The stories analyzed testify that despite their literary nature they contain traces of real-life situations. The attitude of the rabbis to the Samaritans did not change at one specific point in time but repeatedly.
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  329. Schiffman, Lawrence H. “The Samaritans in Tannaitic Halakhah.” Jewish Quarterly Review 75.4 (1985): 323–350.
  330. DOI: 10.2307/1454401Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. The analysis of certain important tannaitic pronouncements on the Samaritans leads the author to conclude that there was a change in the opinion of the Tannaim: First they considered them as Jews and trustworthy, but later they classified them with Gentiles in parallel with the political developments. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  333. Schiffman, Lawrence H. “The Samaritans in Amoraic Halakhah.” In Shoshannat Yaakov: Jewish and Iranian Studies in Honor of Yaakov Elman. Edited by Shai Secunda and Steven Fine, 371–389. Brill Reference Library of Judaism 35. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
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  335. Examines selected passages in amoraic sources and concludes that in the 3rd century CE the process of separation of the Samaritans from the Jewish people, begun in the early 2nd century, escalated until the Samaritans were classified as non-Jews.
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  337. Strack, Hermann L., and Paul Billerbeck. Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch: Erster (Doppel-) Band: Das Evangelium nach Matthäus. Munich: Beck, 1922.
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  339. In connection with Matthew 10:5b (Jesus tells his disciples “enter no town of the Samaritans”) Strack and Billerbeck cites the rabbinic passages that refer to the Samaritans. Available online as an e-book.
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  341. Sects
  342.  
  343. For centuries now, the Samaritans have been a homogeneous community, not divided into sects that disagree on fundamental matters of belief or practice. However, Samaritan Chronicles as well as early Christian, Jewish, and Muslim sources all contain descriptions of, or short hints at, the existence of just such sects among the Samaritans. Unfortunately, these records are often very difficult to decipher as to their exact meaning, and most were written long after the time when these sects were active. In many cases they were tendentious, and some are based on earlier accounts that they quote with more or less accuracy. It is therefore difficult for us to gain a reasonably accurate picture of Samaritan sects, their origin, history, and beliefs; in fact, the unknown far surpasses the known in this case. The relatively best documented sectarian leader was a man by the name Dositheus, called Dūsis in the Samaritan sources. He became the eponymous founder of the sect of the Dositheans. Another, earlier sect, was called the Dustān. Subgroups of the Dositheans also probably existed that differed in various practices from each other. Dositheus himself had the reputation of being able to work miracles and to have written down his ideas, advocating changes to the text of the Pentateuch and to the beliefs. He appears to have applied Deuteronomy 18:15 to himself (i.e., he saw himself as the prophet like Moses, whose return was expected by his disciples). A plausible time for his activities is the early 1st century CE, although the origin of the sect probably goes back to an earlier time. As to the final fate of the sects, some authors think the Dositheans and other sectarian groupings disappeared or were absorbed into the mainstream Samaritan community by the 14th century. Abū l-Fatḥ’s accounts speak of them in the past tense. The Dositheans and other Samaritan sects are the subject of the monograph Isser 1976. Isser 1999 also gives a summary account. Fossum 1989 presents a detailed survey of the available evidence for Samaritan sectarian movements.
  344.  
  345. Fossum, Jarl. “Sects and Movements.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 293–389. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  347. A detailed and thoroughly documented discussion of the available sources for Dositheus, the Dustan sect, Dositheus and his followers, the Dosithean splinter groups, and Simon Magus.
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  349. Isser, Stanley Jerome. The Dositheans: A Samaritan Sect in Late Antiquity. Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 17. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1976.
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  351. The only monograph on the problem of Samaritan sects. Presents texts, translations, and discussions of the primary sources from Josephus to Arabic authors. Concludes that Dositheus was a 1st-century CE eschatological figure among the Samaritans who became prominent through a Samaritan Pharisaic–like sect that originated a hundred years before him.
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  353. Isser, Stanley Jerome. “The Samaritans and Their Sects.” In Cambridge History of Judaism. Vol. 3, The Early Roman Period. Edited by W. D. Davies and Louis Finkelstein, 569–595. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
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  355. A description of 1st-century Samaritanism from the extant sources, early and late, followed by a discussion of the information on Samaritan sects. Although the extant accounts of Samaritan sects are many times muddled, they do show that the Samaritan religion was not always a monolithic entity but contained a variety of outlooks. Available online by subscription.
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  357. History
  358.  
  359. Given the diverse views about the origins of the Samaritans, it is not surprising that different accounts of their history have different starting points. To this must be added the paucity of sources, particularly for the early periods, that is, from the Hellenistic era to the patristic period and even into the Middle Ages. The Samaritans themselves have preserved records of their history in their Chronicles (see Literature), which recount the events relevant to their community from the biblical period to the time when a given Chronicle was written or updated. But none of them were compiled before the 12th century, and the most detailed ones date from modern times. Because of their late origin and their nature, they must be used with caution. Other Samaritan sources include notes in manuscripts, marriage contracts, and the correspondence with European scholars. The available non-Samaritan textual evidence is scattered over a great many works, ranging from Greek and Roman authors to patristic writers, Byzantine legal texts, Jewish sources, Muslim historians and geographers, travel reports, and accounts by missionaries. They are written in different languages and typically mention the Samaritans only in passing. This diffuse character of the sources is reflected in the types of studies available: More often than not they deal with individual historical episodes rather than presenting narratives that span long periods of time. In addition to articles devoted to particular periods or events, books, and encyclopedia articles listed in Samaritans, The Religious Community. General Overviews contain outlines of the major stages in the life of the community.
  360.  
  361. Historiographical Studies
  362.  
  363. There are only two book-length studies of the history of the Samaritans by single authors: Mor 2003 covers the early period and Schur 1992 extends from antiquity to the present. The most detailed account by multiple authors is the chapter on Samaritan history in Crown 1989 (cited under Multi-Author Works). It is divided into seven subsections according to historical periods and is authored by the following scholars: M. Mor (“The Persian, Hellenistic, and Hasmonaean Period,” pp. 1–18; “The Samaritans and Bar-Kokhbah Revolt,” pp. 19–31”), B. Hall (“From Hyrcanus to Babba Rabba,” pp. 32–54), A. D. Crown (“The Byzantine and Moslem Period,” pp. 55–81), B. Z. Kedar (“The Frankish Period,” pp. 82–94), R. T. Anderson (“Samaritan History During the Renaissance,” pp. 95–112), and N. Schur (“The Modern Period (From 1516 A.D.),” pp. 113–134). Baillet 1991 (cited under Dictionary and Lexica Articles) surveys the history from biblical times to the Arab conquest of Palestine with additional short remarks about the period of the Crusades. Dušek 2007 deals with the history of Samaria between 450 BCE and 332 BCE.
  364.  
  365. Dušek, Jan. Les Manuscrits araméens du Wadi Daliyeh et la Samarie vers 450–332 av. J.-C. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 30. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  366. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004161788.i-702Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367. A thorough and comprehensive study of the Aramaic documents discovered in the Wadi Daliyeh in Palestine. Dušek, for the first time, presents all the documents in photographs, transcriptions, and translations with detailed comments, followed by a historical interpretation of the manuscripts.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Mor, Menachem. Miš-Šômrôn li-Šekem hā-‘ēdā haš-šômrônît ba-‘ēt ha-ʻattîqā. Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 2003.
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  371. As the subtitle, The Samaritan Community in Antiquity, indicates, the book narrates the history of the Samaritans in antiquity up to their revolts in the 5th and 6th centuries CE. It includes an appendix citing the source texts for the Samaritan revolts, and an extensive bibliography. In Hebrew.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Schur, Nathan. History of the Samaritans. 2d ed. Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testamentes und des antiken Judentums 18. New York: Lang, 1992.
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  375. An overview of the history of the Samaritans from biblical times to the 20th century in the style of haute vulgarisation, based on the author’s previous studies of discrete periods. A particular strength is the author’s familiarity with and citations from Western travelogues and pilgrim reports.
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  377. Historical Sources
  378.  
  379. An annotated and comprehensive listing of sources for the history of the Samaritans is given in Baillet 1991 (cited under Dictionary and Lexica Articles). For the inscriptions, see Archaeology. The pertinent texts of the Greek and Roman historians are conveniently assembled in Stern 1974, Stern 1980, and Stern 1984. The New Testament (see Samaritans in the Bible) and Flavius Josephus (Pummer 2009) are our main sources for the early period. The patristic sources are collected in Pummer 2002 and the Byzantine laws, in Linder 1987. A short overview of traveler and pilgrim reports is Schur 1993; the Christian itineraries specifically are listed in Schur 1986. For the correspondence with European scholars, see Delcor 1988. The Samaritan Chronicles are discussed in Literature. For the rabbinic literature, see Samaritans in Rabbinic Literature. Muslim authors are cited and discussed in Wasserstrom 1985.
  380.  
  381. Delcor, Mathias. “La correspondance des savants européens, en quête de manuscrits, avec les Samaritains du XVIe au XIXe siècle.” In Études samaritaines: Pentateuque et Targum, exégèse et philologie, chroniques. Edited by Jean-Pierre Rothschild and Guy Dominique Sixdener, 27–43. Collection de la Revue des Études Juives 6. Louvain, Belgium: Peeters, 1988.
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  383. An account of the Samaritan correspondence with the French humanist Joseph Scaliger, the English clergyman Robert Huntington, the German scholar Job Ludolf, the French senator and one-time bishop Henri Baptiste Grégoire, and the French scholar of oriental studies Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy.
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  385. Linder, Amnon, ed. The Jews in Roman Imperial Legislation. Translated by Amnon Linder. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987.
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  387. Originally published in Hebrew, ha-Yehudim ṿeha-Yahadut be-ḥuḳe ha-ḳesarut ha-Romit, in 1983 (Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities). Collects and comments on all Roman legal texts in Greek and Latin with English translation that were issued between the 2nd and 6th centuries CE and deal specifically with Jews. A number of the texts are concerned also with Samaritans.
  388. Find this resource:
  389. Pummer, Reinhard. Early Christian Authors on Samaritans and Samaritanism: Texts, Translations and Commentary. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 92. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2002.
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  391. Corpus of patristic texts about the Samaritans in the pre-Islamic period in the original languages with English translations and introductions.
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  393. Pummer, Reinhard. The Samaritans in Flavius Josephus. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 129. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2009.
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  395. This work is the most recent book-length analysis of Josephus’s texts on the Samaritans, trying “to understand Josephus in the light of the new insights into the Jewish historian’s methods and aims and the results of renewed research into ancient texts and archaeological remains” (pp. 1–2).
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Schur, Nathan. “The Samaritans as Described in Christian Itineraries (14th–18th Centuries).” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 118.2 (1986): 144–155.
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  399. Lists Christian travelers’ accounts between the 14th and 18th centuries and provides selected excerpts in English. For the 16th century, statistics from the Ottoman tax registers are included. The information on the Samaritan settlements and the number of Samaritans is summarized in a table at the end of the article.
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  401. Schur, Nathan. “Travellers and Pilgrims as Sources in Samaritan History.” In A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Edited by Alan D. Crown, Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal, 236–238. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1993.
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  403. Catalogs the most important Christian and Jewish travelers. After the crusades and after the Turkish conquest in 1516, and even more so in the 19th century, travelers were especially numerous. Some missionaries also authored detailed reports about the Samaritans.
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  405. Stern, Menahem. Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism. Vol. 1, From Herodotus to Plutarch. Edited and translated by Menahem Stern. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1974.
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  407. Original texts in Latin and Greek with English translations of those passages in the antique authors that have to do with Judaism and Samaritanism. Stern provides an introduction to each author and comments on the texts. Volume 1 contains the texts and translations from Herodotus to Plutarch.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Stern, Menahem. Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism. Vol. 2, From Tacitus to Simplicius. Edited and translated by Menahem Stern. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1980.
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  411. Original texts in Latin and Greek with English translations of those passages in the antique authors that have to do with Judaism and Samaritanism. Stern provides an introduction to each author and and comments on the texts. Volume 2 contains the texts and translations from Tacitus to Simplicius.
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  413. Stern, Menahem. Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism. Vol. 3, Appendixes and Indexes. Edited and translated by Menahem Stern. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1984.
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  415. Original texts in Latin and Greek with English translations of those passages in the antique authors that have to do with Judaism and Samaritanism. Stern provides an introduction to each author and and comments on the texts. Volume 3 contains the appendixes and indexes.
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  417. Wasserstrom, Steven Mark. “Species of Misbelief: A History of Muslim Heresiography of the Jews.” Unpublished PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1985.
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  419. Presents the texts of the main Muslim authors in the original and in English translation with analyses and commentaries. Many of the passages cited refer to the Samaritans, their origin, their beliefs, their relationship to the Jews, their version of the Torah, and their obligation to pay the poll tax. Available in microfilm from the National Library of Canada.
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  421. Geographical Distribution
  422.  
  423. In antiquity, Samaritans lived not only in Palestine—within and without the boundaries of Samaria—but there also was a diaspora in several Mediterranean countries, such as Egypt, Greece, and Italy, which gradually shrank and finally disappeared as more and more of the Samaritans either were assimilated into Greco-Roman culture or, later, converted—or were forcefully converted—to Christianity or Islam or chose to settle in their original homeland by their sacred mountain, Mount Gerizim. For centuries now, Samaritans have lived only in Palestine. For the earlier Samaritan settlements in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt, see Ben-Zvi 1970 (cited under Foundational Works) and Gafni 1971. Magen 2008 (cited under Single Author Works) has a chapter on the Samaritan settlements in the Roman and Byzantine periods. The Samaritan diaspora is surveyed in Crown 1989 and van der Horst 1990. The return of the diaspora Samaritans to Nablus at the end of the Middle Ages is recounted in Schur 2000b, and the new dispersal in the 20th-century is discussed in Schur 2000a.
  424.  
  425. Crown, Alan D. “The Samaritan Diaspora.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 195–217. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  427. A Hebrew translation appeared in Stern and Eshel 2002 (see Multi-Author Works). Outlines the problems involved in studying the Samaritan diaspora and the places where Samaritans lived from antiquity to modern times.
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  429. Gafni, Yeshayahu. “The Samaritans and Their Dwelling Places.” In Shomron: Leḳeṭ maʼamarim u-meḳorot. Edited by Shimon Dar and Yehuda Roth, 166–181. Tel Aviv: Department for the Knowledge of Israel in the Kibbutz Movement, 1971.
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  431. Samaritan settlements, according to Jewish sources, in the time up to the Islamic conquest: the land of the Samaritans according to Flavius Josephus, the distribution of the Samaritans over the “Land of the Kutim,” the dispersion of the Samaritans outside of the land of Israel. Includes two maps. In Hebrew.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Schur, Nathan. “The New Dispersal of the Samaritans of Nablus in the Twentieth Century.” In Samaritan Researches. Vol. 5, Proceedings of the Congress of the SES (Milan July 8–12, 1996) and of the Special Section of the ICANAS Congress (Budapest, July 7–11 1997). Part 3. Edited by Vittorio Morabito, Alan D. Crown, and Lucy Davey, 60–63. Studies in Judaica 10. Sydney, Australia: Mandelbaum, 2000a.
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  435. Early in the 20th century, Samaritans moved to Jaffa, Tulkarem, and Es-Salt in Transjordan. Their motivations were economic and demographic. After 1948 Samaritans settled also in Rishon LeZion, Netanya, and Haifa. Eventually they settled in Nablus and Ḥolon.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Schur, Nathan. “The Return of the Diaspora Samaritans to Nablus at the End of the Middle Ages.” In Samaritan Researches. Vol. 5, Proceedings of the Congress of the SES (Milan July 8–12, 1996) and of the Special Section of the ICANAS Congress (Budapest, July 7–11 1997). Part 3. Edited by Vittorio Morabito, Alan D. Crown, and Lucy Davey, 54–59. Studies in Judaica 10. Sydney, Australia: Mandelbaum, 2000b.
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  439. Around 1625/1626 most of the few diaspora Samaritans that remained returned to Nablus. Ever since the Ottoman conquest the diaspora had been declining, and in the 18th century it came to an end. Only in the 20th century did the Samaritans spread again to places outside of Nablus.
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  441. van der Horst, Pieter W. “The Samaritan Diaspora in Antiquity.” In Essays on the Jewish World of Early Christianity. By Pieter W. van der Horst, 136–147. Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus 14. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990.
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  443. A second edition is in preparation of the author’s study in Dutch “De Samaritaanse diaspora in de oudheid” (Netherlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 42 (1988): 134–144). Presents the literary and epigraphic data for the Samaritan diaspora outside Palestine from the 3rd century BCE to the 7th century CE. Neither the beginnings of the diaspora nor the size of it can be known, although the author thinks it consisted “without any doubt of many tens of thousands” (p. 147).
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Archaeology
  446.  
  447. Archaeological excavations, particularly on Mount Gerizim but also in other areas of Samaria, have contributed—and still contribute—substantially to the recent dramatic increase in research and publications on the Samaritans. The evidence uncovered has put our knowledge of Samaritan history on a new footing. From Flavius Josephus we know that the Samaritans had a temple on the mountain, built, according to him, in the late 4th century BCE (Jewish Antiquities 11:306–325). In the past, different hypotheses as to where the temple stood and whether it really existed were proposed. The new excavations have uncovered a sacred precinct that was built in two stages—the older in the Persian period and the more recent in the Hellenistic era when it was surrounded by a large unfortified city. It is assumed that the precinct surrounded a Samaritan sanctuary in both periods. The remains of a temple still visible on the northern peak of Mount Gerizim, called Tell er-Rās (831 m [2725 feet] above sea level) have been shown to come from a Roman edifice built probably by Emperor Antoninus Pius (138–161 CE) and in use until the 4th century, its image appearing on city coins of Neapolis. Neither this temple nor its substructure—a podium to raise the temple—has any connection with the Samaritan Yahweh temple on the main peak (881 m [2890 feet] above sea level). The Samaritan temple and the city surrounding it were destroyed in approximately 110 BCE by the Jewish priest-king John Hyrcanus I (134–104 BCE) never to be rebuilt. During the Byzantine period, in approximately 484 CE Emperor Zeno built a church dedicated to Mary the Mother of God (Theotokos), which was further fortified by Emperor Justinian I (527–565 CE) ,and whose ruins can still be discerned. In addition to the finds on Mount Gerizim, archaeology brought to light a number of Samaritan synagogues and identified Samaritan settlements; on the Greek island of Delos two Samaritan inscriptions mentioning the holy Mount Gerizim were unearthed. Samaritan inscriptions on stone and mosaics were found not only on Mount Gerizim but also in the remains of synagogues and secular buildings. Clay lamps and amulets made of bronze were also inscribed.
  448.  
  449. Mount Gerizim
  450.  
  451. A short general survey of archaeological research in Israel is Dar 2010. Concerning the temples on Mount Gerizim, Bull 1997 still believes that the structure beneath the Roman temple on Tell er-Rās dates from the 3rd century BCE and was part of the Samaritan temple described by Flavius Josephus. New excavations on Mount Gerizim were undertaken by Yitzhak Magen between 1982 and 2006 and surveyed in Magen 2008a. Preliminary results are found in Magen 2008b. In Magen 2007 the author reaffirms his conclusions about the dating of the first Samaritan temple. The Aramaic and Hebrew inscriptions uncovered on Mount Gerizim are presented in Magen, et al. 2004 and discussed and analyzed in Dušek 2012.
  452.  
  453. Bull, Robert J. “Ras, Tell Er-.” In Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 4, Meta–Sepp. Edited by Eric M. Meyers, 407–409. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
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  455. Bull excavated the Tell in 1964, 1966, and 1968. He distinguishes Building A, the Roman Zeus temple, and, underneath it, Building B, part of the Samaritan temple. Available online by subscription.
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  457. Dar, Shimon. “Archaeological Aspects of Samaritan Research in Israel.” In Religious Diversity in Late Antiquity. Edited by David M. Gwynn and Susanne Bangert, 189–198. Late Antique Archaeology 6. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2010.
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  459. A brief discussion of the new discoveries on Mount Gerizim, the remains of Samaritan synagogues, and Samaritan settlements.
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  461. Dušek, Jan. Aramaic and Hebrew Inscriptions from Mt. Gerizim and Samaria Between Antiochus III and Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East 54. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
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  463. A thorough presentation and analysis of the inscriptions and the available information on Samaria in the Hellenistic period—identity of Samarian Yahweh worshipers, religious institutions, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the history of the southern Levant between Antiochus III (223–187 BCE) and Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BCE).
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Magen, Yitzhak. “The Dating of the First Phase of the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim in Light of the Archaeological Evidence.” In Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E. Edited by Oded Lipschits, Gary N. Knoppers, and Rainer Albertz, 157–211. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007.
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  467. On the basis of his excavations on Mount Gerizim, Magen wants to clarify once and for all the time when the Samaritans began to build a temple on the mountain. He provides evidence that the temple was constructed in the mid-5th century BCE and not in the late 4th century as Josephus and later scholars claimed.
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  469. Magen, Yitzhak. “Gerizim, Mount.” In New Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land. Vol. 5. Edited by Ephraim Stern, 1742–1748. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2008a.
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  471. An update of the article with the same title in Volume 2 of the New Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1993), pp. 484–492. Surveys the history and the recent excavations on Mount Gerizim, with aerial photographs, plans, and bibliography.
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  473. Magen, Yitzhak. Mount Gerizim Excavations: A Temple City. Edited by Michal Haber and Noga Carmin. Judea and Samaria Publications 8. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2008b.
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  475. A description of the city on Mount Gerizim and the sacred precinct and a discussion of the dating of the temple on the Mountain, the finds and inscriptions, and the mountain in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Numerous photographs, drawings, plans, and charts.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Magen, Yitzhak, Haggai Misgav, and Levana Tsfania, eds. Mount Gerizim Excavations. Vol. 1, The Aramaic, Hebrew and Samaritan Inscriptions. Judea and Samaria Publications 2. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 2004.
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  479. Introductions on the Mount Gerizim excavations and on the Aramaic and Hebrew inscriptions (in English and in Hebrew) plus a catalog (in English) of the inscriptions. Each inscription—395 in all—is described, transliterated, translated, commented on, and illustrated with photographs and drawings.
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  481. Synagogues
  482.  
  483. Actual antique Samaritan synagogues—as opposed to inscriptions and architectural remains that possibly belonged to synagogues—were first excavated in 1948. Since then more have come to light in Palestine. They date to the Byzantine period, and some existed into the Islamic era. A thorough inventory of synagogues known from archaeology and literary sources at the time of the publication is Reeg 1977. The most recent detailed description of the synagogues in Palestine is Magen 2008 (cited under Single Author Works) with bibliography and numerous illustrations in black and white and in color, including photographs, drawings, and plans. There are indications that the diaspora Samaritans also had synagogues, including in the cities of Rome, Syracuse, Thessalonica, and on the Greek island of Delos. Due to the great affinities between Jewish and Samaritan material culture, the synagogues of the two communities are similar, although certain distinguishing characteristics exist. The inscriptions found in Delos have recently given rise to speculations whose authors came to opposite conclusions in Trümper 2004 and Matassa 2007. Unfortunately, no new data have come to light because no further excavations have been carried out at the location.
  484.  
  485. Matassa, Lidia. “Unravelling the Myth of the Synagogue on Delos.” Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society 25 (2007): 81–115.
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  487. Reexamines the evidence and concludes that only the presence of Jews or Samaritans (or both) on Delos in the 1st or 2nd century BCE can be asserted, but for the existence of a synagogue on Delos, “there is as yet no evidence that it has been found” (p. 111).
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Reeg, Gottfried. Die antiken Synagogen in Israel. Volume 2, Die samaritanischen Synagogen. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B (Geisteswissenschaften) 12.2. Wiesbaden, West Germany: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1977.
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  491. Although the remains of only three synagogues had been found by 1977, Reeg draws on all archaeological finds and references in historical sources in his detailed and exhaustive catalog of all available information related to Samaritan synagogues. A very useful, early reference work.
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  493. Trümper, Monika. “The Oldest Original Synagogue Building in the Diaspora: The Delos Synagogue Reconsidered.” Hesperia 73.4 (2004): 513–598.
  494. DOI: 10.2972/hesp.2004.73.4.513Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  495. The analysis of the architectural history of the building shows that it was a Jewish or Samaritan synagogue, built in five phases from before 88 BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  497. Inscriptions
  498.  
  499. Baillet 1991 (cited under Dictionary and Lexica Articles) enumerates 137 inscriptions, with bibliographies, in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Arabic on different materials—stone, metal, wood, clay, cloth, and paper—dating from antiquity to today. Since then, more inscriptions have come to light. No publication systematically presents and discusses all of them. Only Decalogue inscriptions (Dexinger 1977), inscriptions on amulets (Reich 2002), and oil lamps (Sussman 2000), and the Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions discovered on Mount Gerizim (Dušek 2012; Magen 2004; Magen 2008b; all cited under Mount Gerizim) have been published as groups in articles or books. Synagogue inscriptions are described in publications about the buildings. Inscriptions were also found in the diaspora—Damascus (Tropper 1995), Delos (Bruneau 1982; Dušek 2012, cited under Mount Gerizim), Thessalonica, Syracuse, and Calabria (descriptions and discussions are scattered in various publications; for the references, see the Subject Index in Crown and Pummer 2005, cited under Samaritan Studies Reference Works). Naveh 1989 argues that inscriptions in stone belonged to private houses, not synagogues. The contents of the inscriptions vary; many contain texts from the Pentateuch, and others are of a dedicatory nature. In most cases the dating is difficult and must be done through comparison with other, dated inscriptions, except for inscriptions from the Muslim era, which were often dated. An additional problem is the secondary use of inscribed stones.
  500.  
  501. Bruneau, Philippe. “‘Les Israélites de Délos’ et la juiverie déliènne.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 106 (1982): 466–504.
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  503. The editio princeps of the inscriptions. For the latest discussion, see Dušek 2012 (cited under Mount Gerizim).
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Dexinger, Ferdinand. “Das Garizimgebot im Dekalog der Samaritaner.” In Studien zum Pentateuch: Walter Kornfeld zum 60. Geburstag. Edited by Georg Braulik, 111–133. Vienna, Austria: Herder, 1977.
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  507. Discusses those eleven inscriptions that contain the second part of the Decalogue after Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:18.
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  509. Naveh, Joseph. “Did Ancient Samaritan Inscriptions belong to Synagogues?” In Ancient Synagogues in Israel: Third–Seventh Century C.E.; Proceedings of Symposium, University of Hafia [i.e., Haifa], May 1987. Edited by Rachel Hachlili, 61–63. BAR International Series 499. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1989.
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  511. Lintels and doorposts—or at least some of them—inscribed with pentateuchal texts of a prophylactic nature did not belong to synagogues but to private houses.
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  513. Reich, Ronny. “Samaritan Amulets from the Late Roman and Byzantine Periods.” In Sefer ha-Shomronim. Edited by Ephraim Stern and Hanan Eshel, 289–309. Jerusalem: Ben Zvi, 2002.
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  515. Lists twenty-one Samaritan amulets, providing drawings or photographs and transliterations of their inscriptions as far as they are decipherable. Except for five specimens added by Reich, most items were published previously, but the collection in one place is useful. In Hebrew.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Sussman, Varda. “Samaritan Oil-Lamps.” In Samaritan Researches. Vol. 5, Proceedings of the Congress of the SES (Milan July 8–12, 1996) and of the Special Section of the ICANAS Congress (Budapest, July 7–11 1997). Part 4. Edited by Vittorio Morabito, Alan D. Crown, and Lucy Davey, 14–26. Mandelbaum Studies in Judaica 10. Sydney, Australia: Mandelbaum, 2000.
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  519. Lamps with Samaritan script (4th–7th centuries CE) with cultic motifs and with secular motifs.
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  521. Tropper, Josef. “Die samaritanischen Inschriften des Pergamonmuseums.” Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 111.2 (1995): 118–134.
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  523. Scholarly edition, with photographs, of the eighteen Samaritan inscriptions in the Pergamonmuseum in Berlin—ten inscriptions from Damascus dating from the 16th century, and eight from Palestine, probably Nablus, dating from the 10th/11th, 14th to 16th, and 18th centuries.
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  525. Pentateuch
  526.  
  527. Presently, research and publication on the Samaritan Pentateuch are at a high point—editions, studies, and translations are appearing at an extraordinarily advanced pace. The West has been familiar with the Samaritan Pentateuch since the 17th century when the first copies of it were brought to Europe, and a controversy arose as to which version is closer to the “original,” the Jewish or the Samaritan. The debates went on for a long time before the nature of the Samaritan version was better understood. However, the discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls and, in their wake, renewed research into the biblical text have put in question past certainties. Although the often repeated claim that the Samaritan Pentateuch differs from the Masoretic text in six thousand cases can still be found in one or the other publication, it is now clear that this figure is misleading. There are, of course, differences between the two versions, but they are much fewer in number if one does not include simple spelling variances. It is now clear that the Samaritan Pentateuch in essence is one of the forms of the Torah in use in pre-Christian times. The Samaritans expanded some of the passages by inserting texts from other parts of the Pentateuch, mostly to emphasize the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, but some of the differences that once were attributed to them appear to be due rather to changes introduced by Jewish scribes to emphasize the preeminence of Jerusalem. A question that has educed different explanations is: How can we account for the fact that the Samaritan and the Jewish Pentateuch are virtually the same? In most instances, it was assumed that the Samaritans adopted the Pentateuch from the Judeans. Some scholars have even gone so far to say that the Jerusalem priest Manasseh, mentioned by Josephus in Jewish Antiquities 11:306–347, brought with him the Torah when he left Jerusalem for Mount Gerizim, even though Josephus does not mention the Pentateuch in this context. However, more and more it was realized that the wholesale adoption of the Pentateuch by the Samaritans is an untenable hypothesis that overlooks the fact that there were always Yahwists living in the North, even after the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom. They must have participated in the formation of the Pentateuch, although to what extent is difficult to determine, mostly because the editors of the work were Judeans who introduced their own outlook into the text.
  528.  
  529. Editions
  530.  
  531. The most widely used edition until recently was that of von Gall 1966 (originally published between 1914 and 1918). Its shortcomings have often been pointed out, but for want of a new edition it was (and still is) the one used by scholars, although Tal 1994 is a diplomatic edition of a 13th-century manuscript. A new critical edition is currently being prepared by a team of scholars (see Schorch 2012). The Samaritans possess a scroll that they believe was written by Abisha, the great grandson of Aaron, thirteen years after the conquest of Canaan. It appears that, in fact, its oldest part (Numbers 35:1–Deuteronomy 34:12) goes back to the middle of the 12th century CE (see Pérez Castro 1959). The Samaritan Pentateuch manuscripts render only the consonantal text in Samaritan script, which is a version of the paleo-Hebrew script. The reading tradition was recorded in writing only sporadically and late. The vowel signs eventually used by the Samaritans were marked only inconsistently in relatively recent manuscripts. The only fully vocalized text is Ṣadaqa 2000. Ben-Ḥayyim 1977 contains a transcription of the Torah (in Roman script) as recited by the Samaritans.
  532.  
  533. Ben-Ḥayyim, Ze’ev. ʻIvrit ṿa-Aramit nusaḥ Shomron: ʻAl pi teʻudot shebi-khetav ṿe-ʻedut shebe-ʻal peh. Vol. 4, The Words of the Pentateuch. Jerusalem: Academy of the Hebrew Language, 1977.
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  535. Besides chapters on the words arranged by roots and the personal and geographical names, the book presents, in Roman transcription, the text of the whole Pentateuch as pronounced by the Samaritans. In Hebrew.
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  537. Pérez Castro, Frederico. Séfer Abišaʿ: Edición del fragmento antiguo del rollo sagrado del Pentateuco hebreo samaritano de Nablus: Estudio, transcripción, aparato crítico y facsímiles. Textos y estudios del Seminario Filológico Cardenal Cisneros 2. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1959.
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  539. Contains photographs and transcriptions of the oldest part of the scroll as well as a critical apparatus.
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  541. Ṣadaqa, Israel. Ha-Torah ha-Qedoshah. Ḥolon, Israel: A. B. Institute of Samaritan Studies, 2000.
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  543. The only edition of the Samaritan Pentateuch that is fully vocalized. In Hebrew.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Schorch, Stefan. “Der Pentateuch der Samaritaner: Seine Erforschung und seine Bedeutung für das Verständnis des alttestamentlichen Bibeltextes.” In Die Samaritaner und die Bibel: Historische und literarische Wechselwirkungen zwischen biblischen und samaritanischen Traditionen. Edited by Jörg Frey, Ursula Schattner-Rieser, and Konrad Schmid, 5–29. Studia Judaica 70. Studia Samaritana 7. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012.
  546. DOI: 10.1515/9783110294361Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. After an overview of the history of research on the Samaritan Pentateuch and a description of existing editions, the author presents the project of a critical editio magna, scheduled to appear in stages over the next several years, beginning with the Book of Genesis probably in 2013. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  549. Tal, Abraham, ed. Ḥammîšā ḥûmšê tôrā le-fî nôsaḥ Šômrôn bi-Šekem : hitqîn min ketav hay-yad ms.6 (C) še-ve-vêt hak-keneset haš-Šômrônî bi-Šekam. Texts and Studies in the Hebrew Language and Related Subjects 8. Tel Aviv, Israel: Tel Aviv University, 1994.
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  551. A diplomatic edition of MS 6 from 1204 CE (for a corrected edition, see Tal and Florentin 2010, cited under Comparative Editions). Available in electronic form from Accordance Bible Software for Mac; with additional software it can also be used on a PC. Marks the differences to the Masoretic text, is morphologically tagged and takes into account Z. Ben-Ḥayyim’s recording of the reading by Samaritans. In Hebrew.
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  553. von Gall, August. Der Hebräische Pentateuch der Samaritaner. Giessen, West Germany: Alfred Töpelmann, 1966.
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  555. Originally published between 1914 and 1918. Von Gall used many manuscripts noted in his apparatus but presented an eclectic text adapted to that of the Masoretic version. An electronic edition is available from Bible Works.
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  557. Comparative Editions
  558.  
  559. In addition to the editions of the text of the Samaritan Pentateuch as such, there are also parallel editions of the Samaritan and the Masoretic Pentateuch, typographically highlighting the differences: Ṣadaqaand Ṣadaqa 1961–1965, Shoulson 2008, and Tal and Florentin 2010. See now also the comparison of the English translations of the two versions in Tsedaka and Sullivan 2013 (cited in Translations).
  560.  
  561. Ṣadaqa, Abraham, and Ratson Ṣadaqa. Jewish and Samaritan Version of the Pentateuch: With Particular Stress on the Differences between Both Texts. Tel Aviv: Mass, 1961–1965.
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  563. The text of Genesis to Numbers is based on an 11th-century manuscript, that of Deuteronomy on the Abisha Scroll, supplemented by a manuscript from the 12th/13th century. The texts are arranged in parallel columns and the differences are highlighted in bold. In Hebrew.
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  565. Shoulson, Mark, ed. The Torah: Jewish and Samaritan Versions Compared: A Side-by-Side Comparison of the Two Versions with the Differences Highlighted. 2d ed. Westport, UK: Evertype, 2008.
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  567. Second revised and enlarged edition. A computer generated and manually corrected comparison of the texts of the computerized transcription of the Leningrad Codex and the Tal 1994 text (cited under Editions), dealing only with the consonants.
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  569. Tal, Abraham, and Moshe Florentin, eds. Ḥamishah Ḥumshe Torah: Nusaḥ Shomron ṿe-nusaḥ ha-Masorah: Mavo, heʻarot, nispaḥim. Tel Aviv: Haim Rubin Tel Aviv University Press, 2010.
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  571. Contains a corrected version of the edition of MS 6 and the parallel Masoretic text, highlighting the important differences and the differences in the reading. In Hebrew.
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  573. Aramaic and Arabic Translations
  574.  
  575. In the 3rd or 4th century CE the Pentateuch was translated into Palestinian Aramaic, the vernacular of the Samaritans at the time. Very few manuscripts of it survived, the oldest dating from the 12th century. Tal 1980, Tal 1981, and Tal 1983 are the only modern critical editions of the Samaritan Targum. An overview of the history and nature of the Targum is found in Tal 1988. In the 11th century, Arabic became the vernacular of the Samaritans and the Pentateuch was translated into that language. In the course of time, several versions were in use. A modern critical edition was published in Shehadeh 1989b and Shehadeh 2002. Until the completion and publication of Volume 3 of Shehadeh’s edition, a detailed introduction can be found in Shehadeh 1989a.
  576.  
  577. Shehadeh, Haseeb. “The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 481–516. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989a.
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  579. This chapter is at present the most detailed introduction to the Arabic translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch.
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  581. Shehadeh, Haseeb, ed. The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Vol. 1, Genesis–Exodus. Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Section of Humanities. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1989b.
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  583. Edited from manuscripts with an introductory volume. This work is the only critical edition of the Arabic translation of the Pentateuch. Volume 1 contains the books of Genesis and Exodus. In Arabic.
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  585. Shehadeh, Haseeb, ed. The Arabic Translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch. Vol. 2, Leviticus–Deuteronomy. Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Section of Humanities. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 2002.
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  587. Edited from manuscripts with an introductory volume. This work is the only critical edition of the Arabic translation of the Pentateuch. Volume 2 contains the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In Arabic.
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  589. Tal, Abraham, ed. The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch: A Critical Edition. Vol. 1, Genesis, Exodus. Texts and Studies in the Hebrew Language and Related Subjects 4. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1980.
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  591. This edition replaces all older editions of the Samaritan Targum. Volume 1 contains the books of Genesis and Exodus. In Hebrew and Aramaic.
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  593. Tal, Abraham, ed. The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch: A Critical Edition. Vol. 2, Leviticus, Numeri, Deuteronomium. Texts and Studies in the Hebrew Language and Related Subjects 5. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1981.
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  595. This edition replaces all older editions of the Samaritan Targum. Volume 2 contains the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In Hebrew and Aramaic.
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  597. Tal, Abraham, ed. The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch: A Critical Edition. Volume 3, Introduction. Texts and Studies in the Hebrew Language and Related Subjects 6. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1983.
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  599. Volume 3 contains a detailed introduction (in Hebrew and in English) to Tal 1980 and Tal 1981a. In Hebrew and Aramaic.
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  601. Tal, Abraham. “The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch.” In Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Martin Jan Mulder, 189–216. Assen, The Netherlands: Van Gorcum, 1988.
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  603. Discusses the history, manuscripts, and hermeneutical character of the Samaritan Targum.
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  605. Greek Translations
  606.  
  607. There are traces of a Samaritan Greek translation, called the Samareitikon. Origen in his Hexapla lists some readings that he marks as coming from the Samareitikon. Field 1964 (originally published in 1875) lists forty-three plus four anonymous such passages. It is unclear what Origen meant by the designation to Samareitikon—a complete Greek translation made from the Hebrew or Aramaic Samaritan Pentateuch or single notes added by Samaritans to a text of the Septuagint or the Aramaic translation; or did he himself translate into Greek certain phrases from Samaritan texts? In the 19th and 20th centuries various hypotheses have been constructed to account for these Greek phrases (see Noja 1989). In addition to the Samareitikon passages in Origen’s Hexapla (Field 1964), fragments of a Greek translation of some verses from Deuteronomy 24, 25 and 27–29 were discovered—the Papyrus Gießen 19—which may also belong to a Samaritan Greek version (Glaue and Rahlfs 1909–1915). The Bibliothèque publique et universitaire in Geneva houses a further fragment with the text of Genesis 37:3–4 and 9 (see Rahlfs 1909–1915). In both cases, the fragments were dated paleographically to the 5th/6th century. An inscription possibly containing passages from the Samareitikon was discovered in Thessalonica, dating from the 4th to the 6th centuries; it was first published in Lifshitz and Schiby 1968. The Gießen Papyrus, the Geneva fragment and the Thessalonica inscription are analyzed in Tov 1999. Scholars now incline to the opinion that the Samaritans produced a Greek translation in the sense that they modified the Septuagint in certain cases; see Pummer 1998 and Schenker 2010.
  608.  
  609. Field, Frederick. Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt sive veterum interpretum graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta. Vol. 1, Prolegomena. Genesis–Esther. Hildesheim, West Germany: Olms, 1964.
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  611. Originally published in 1875. Lists and discusses the Samareitikon passages in the Hexapla. See also the English translation of the introduction in Gérard J. Norton, trans. Frederick Field’s Prolegomena to Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt, sive veterum interpretum Graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta. Cahiers de la Revue Biblique 62 (Paris: Gabalda, 2005).
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  613. Glaue, Paul, and Alfred Rahlfs. “Fragmente einer griechischen Übersetzung des samaritanischen Pentateuchs.” In Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens. Vol. 1, Edited by Göttingen Academy of Sciences, 31–64. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1909–1915.
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  615. Photographs, transcription, translation, and analysis of the texts. Concludes that the translation is Samaritan and not a recension of the Septuagint on which it, nevertheless, depends to some extent.
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  617. Lifshitz, Baruch, and J. Schiby. “Une synagogue samaritaine à Thessalonique.” Revue Biblique 75.4 (1968): 368–378.
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  619. Lines 1 and 15 are in Samaritan script; lines 2–14 (in Greek script) cite Numbers 6:22–27; and lines 16–19 (also in Greek script) praise Siricius, the donor of the plaque that was probably mounted in a synagogue.
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  621. Noja, Sergio. “The Samareitikon.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 408–412. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  623. Reviews some of the earlier theories and, summarizing his own view, Noja states that he is convinced that the Greek version of the Samaritan Pentateuch existed and that there are other unrecognized fragments in some libraries.
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  625. Pummer, Reinhard. “The Greek Bible and the Samaritans.” Revue des études juifs 157.3–4 (1998): 269–358.
  626. DOI: 10.2143/REJ.157.3.519315Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  627. Examines the various hypotheses about the source of the Samareitikon passages, analyzing every passage, including additional textual and epigraphic evidence. Concludes that in their Greek translation of the Pentateuch, the “Samaritans made use of existing Greek translations without bringing them into complete conformity with their own tradition” (p. 310). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  629. Rahlfs, Alfred. “Ein weiteres Fragment der griechischen Übersetzung des samaritanischen Pentateuchs.” In Mitteilungen des Septuaginta-Unternehmens. Vol. 1. Edited by Göttingen Academy of Sciences, 65–68. Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1909–1915.
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  631. A transcription and analysis of the Geneva fragment. The author concludes that, as in the case of the Gießen Papyrus, this text also shows that the Samaritan Greek translation is dependent on the Septuagint.
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  633. Schenker, Adrian. “Textgeschichtliches zum Samaritanischen Pentateuch und Samareitikon.” In Samaritans: Past and Present: Current Studies. Edited by Menachem Mor and Friedrich V. Reiterer, 105–121. Studia Judaica 53. Studia Samaritana 5. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010.
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  635. “Gerizim” in Deuteronomy 27:4 and the perfect tense in “the place that Yhwh your God has chosen” are original, supporting the view that the original Deuteronomy was probably at home in Ephraim/Israel. The translator of the Samareitikon based himself on the Septuagint, introducing changes only where he deemed the latter inadequate.
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  637. Tov, Emanuel. The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint. Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 72. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1999.
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  639. Contains revised versions of Tov’s earlier study “Pap. Giessen 13, 19, 22, 26: A Revision of the Septuagint?”(pp. 459–476) and his article “Une inscription grecqe d’origine samaritaine trouvée à Thessalonique” (pp. 513–518).
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  641. English Translations
  642.  
  643. Except for an English translation of the book of Exodus (Phillips 2004), the Samaritan Pentateuch had never been translated into a European language until now. Recently, however, a complete English translation was undertaken by Samaritans themselves (Tsedaka and Sullivan 2013). Other English translations by several scholars are in preparation.
  644.  
  645. Phillips, David. Hebrew-English Paleo Exodus: Scripture at the End of the Iron II Period. Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies 14. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2004.
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  647. A “quirky, helpful work, an amateur’s labor of love” (William H. C. Propp, Preface). It contains the Hebrew text on one side and an English translation on the other. The differences among the Masoretic text, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Dead Sea Scrolls are highlighted in paleo-Hebrew letters.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Tsedaka, Benyamim, and Sharon Sullivan, eds. The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version. Translated by Benyamim Tsedaka. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013.
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  651. The translation of the Samaritan text by Tsedaka, a Samaritan, is based on four manuscripts from the 11th/12th centuries and that of the Masoretic text on the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation. The proper names are given in the Samaritan pronunciation; marginal notes explain how Samaritans understand the text.
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  653. Studies
  654.  
  655. Of all the Samaritan subjects, the Pentateuch is the most studied item, as a glance at the Subject Index of Crown and Pummer 2005 (cited under Samaritan Studies Reference Works) shows. The reasons for this interest vary with the different periods in history. In antiquity among the Jews and Samaritans and in the 17th and 18th centuries among Catholics and Protestants, the debates hinged on the question of which version, the Masoretic or the Samaritan, is the more authentic version. It seemed to be resolved in the 19th century in favor of the Masoretic text. New vistas, however, were opened up with the discovery and study of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century. Researchers realized that the Samaritan version is one of a number of versions in use in Palestine during the centuries shortly before and after the turn of the eras. In particular, the pre-Samaritan texts make this fact clear. They contain most of the traits that once were considered characteristic of the Samaritan Pentateuch only, and researchers realized that very little is distinctively Samaritan, or “sectarian,” in the Samaritan Pentateuch (see Tov 2012). What was left was, in the main, the spelling of Mount Gerizim in Hebrew in one word, hrgrzym; God’s command in Deuteronomy 27:4 to set up stones on Mount Gerizim instead of Mount Ebal as in the Masoretic text; the passages emphasizing the sanctity of Mount Gerizim at the end of the Ten Commandments after Exodus 20:17 and Deuteronomy 5:22; and the use of the past tense in the formula “the place that Yhwh your God has chosen” in all twenty-one occurrences in Deuteronomy. These were dubbed ideological or theological differences. Recent research has cast doubt on most of these supposed Samaritan changes (Schenker 2008; see also Schenker 2010, cited under Greek Translation; Charlesworth 2009). In the end, almost the only ideological change made by the Samaritans may be the texts transferred from different biblical passages to form the Samaritan Tenth Commandment. Schattner-Rieser 2009 and Knoppers 2011 discuss the Samaritan Pentateuch in the light of pre-Samaritan texts from Qumran. Jericke 2012 questions the validity of the search for “original” readings. A study of the special Samaritan reading tradition is Schorch 2004. For an important earlier work of the Samaritan Pentateuch, see Purvis 1968 (cited under Origin of the Samaritans). Some authors, such as in Nodet 1997 (cited under Origin of the Samaritans; also see Diebner 2011) believe the Pentateuch was first composed in the North. A recent introduction to all questions related to the Samaritan Pentateuch is Anderson and Giles 2012.
  656.  
  657. Anderson, Robert T., and Terry Giles. The Samaritan Pentateuch: An Introduction to Its Origin, History, and Significance for Biblical Studies. Resources for Biblical Studies 72. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012.
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  659. The two authors provide here another valuable textbook and reference work, covering all aspects of the Samaritan Pentateuch in the light of recent findings and discussions. Particular attention is given to the writings discovered in Qumran. Illustrations add to the usefulness of the book.
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  661. Charlesworth, James H. “What Is a Variant? Announcing a Dead Sea Scrolls Fragment of Deuteronomy.” Maarav 16.2 (2009): 201–212
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  663. This fragment of a non-Samaritan text of Deuteronomy preserves the reading hrgrzym in Deuteronomy 17:4. Gerizim is thus the original reading that was changed to Ebal in the Masoretic text.
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  665. Diebner, Bern J. “Im Spannungsfeld zwischen Judäa und Samarien: Juda und Israel: Zur hermeneutischen Bedeutung der Spannung zwischen Judäa und Samarien für das Verständnis des TNK as Literatur.” In Seit wann gibt es “jenes Israel?” Gesammelte Studien zum TNK und zum antiken Judentum: Bernd J. Diebner zum 70. Geburtstag. Edited by Bernd J. Diebner, Veit Dinkelaker, Benedikt Hensel, and Frank Zeidler, 33–66. Beiträge zum Verstehen der Bibel 17. Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2011.
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  667. Originally published in 1995. Believes that Samaria was culturally and religiously more advanced than Juda, but between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE it was politically outmaneuvered by the latter. The most important section of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, seems to be based in large part on (northern) Israelite traditions.
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  669. Jericke, Detlef. “Der Berg Garizim im Deuteronomium.” Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 124.2 (2012): 213–228.
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  671. In the absence of a satisfactory judgment as to the original version of the Deuteronomic passages about Gerizim and Ebal, the author believes that the Samaritan and the Masoretic versions in this instance are two textual traditions that, at least for a time, were transmitted and defended side by side. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
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  673. Knoppers, Gary N. “Parallel Torahs and Inner-Scriptural Interpretation: The Jewish and Samaritan Pentateuchs in Historical Perspective.” In The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on Current Research. Edited by Thomas B. Dozeman, Konrad Schmid, and Baruch J. Schwartz, 507–531. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 78. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2011.
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  675. The pre-Samaritan manuscripts indicate that the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Jewish Pentateuch are descendants from a common forbearer dating to the Persian or early Hellenistic period. Scholars should consider whether, at least for a time, the Pentateuch was a common endeavor.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Schattner-Rieser, Ursula. “Der samaritanische Pentateuch im Lichte der präsamaritanischen Qumrantexte.” In Qumran und der biblische Kanon. Edited by Michael Becker and Jörg Frey, 145–168. Biblisch-Theologische Studien 92. Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany: Neukirchener, 2009.
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  679. The Samaritan tradition shares with the Qumran texts variants in the Pentateuch, the division of history into periods, the expectation of a messiah in the last days, and the opposition to the temple in Jerusalem. The Qumran manuscripts confirm the plurality of Pentateuch texts in Palestine.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Schenker, Adrian. “Le Seigneur choisira-t-il le lieu de son nom ou l’a-t-il choisi? L’apport de la Bible grecque ancienne à l’histoire du texte Samaritain et Massorétique.” In Scripture in Transition: Essays on Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honour of Raija Sollamo. Edited by Anssi Voitila and Jutta Jokiranta, 339–351. Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement 126. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: 2008.
  682. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004165823.i-756Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  683. The perfect of the verb to choose is original in the formula “the place that Yhwh your God has chosen” in Deuteronomy. The original Septuagint text had the aorist indicative, reflecting the Hebrew perfect in the Vorlage. Thus, the future tense in the Masoretic text is a theologically motivated correction.
  684. Find this resource:
  685. Schorch, Stefan. Die Vokale des Gesetzes: Die samaritanische Lesetradition als Textzeugin der Tora. 1. Das Buch Genesis. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 339. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2004.
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  687. An introduction to the Samaritan vocalization tradition and the differences to the Masoretic reading of Genesis is followed by an annotated list of passages in which the Samaritan vocalization of the Hebrew consonants deviates from the Masoretic. The Samaritan reading tradition originated at the end of the 2nd century BCE.
  688. Find this resource:
  689. Tov, Emanuel. “Pre-Samaritan Texts and the Samaritan Pentateuch (ɯGroup).” In Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. 3d ed. By Emanuel Tov, 74–93. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012.
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  691. An up-to-date discussion with bibliographies of the background, date and origin, manuscripts and editions, nature of the text, and the pre-Samaritan texts. Other parts of the book are also relevant; for instance, the discussion of the plurality of the biblical text (see “A New Approach,” pp. 158–160).
  692. Find this resource:
  693. Literature
  694.  
  695. Apart from the Pentateuch and its Aramaic and Arabic translations (see Pentateuch), the Samaritans have produced a voluminous literature, encompassing works of scriptural exegesis (Torah commentaries), treatises of religious law (halakhah), liturgical texts, apologetic expositions, religious poetry, grammatical tracts, and historical accounts (Chronicles), a good deal of it composed in Arabic. A large part of this literature has so far neither been critically edited nor translated. The earliest works go back to the 4th century CE, but the manuscripts in which much of the Samaritan literature survived postdate the time of their creation by several centuries. A survey of Samaritan Arabic literature is Gaster 2013. A different set of works is reviewed in Tal 1989.
  696.  
  697. Gaster, Moses. “The Samaritan Literature.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition (1913–1936). BrillOnline Reference Works. 2013.
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  699. Originally printed in the 1925 edition (Volume 4) as a supplement to the author’s article “Samaritans.” German version reprinted in Dexinger and Pummer 1992 (pp. 141–168; cited under Samaritan Studies Reference Works). A detailed review of the Samaritan Arabic literature created in Nablus, Syria, and Egypt, beginning with Abū l-Ḥasan aṣ-Ṣūrī (11th century) that concludes with the works of the priest Pinḥas b. Isaac (1840–1898). Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  700. Find this resource:
  701. Tal, Abraham. “Samaritan Literature.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 413–467. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  703. Surveys the grammatical and linguistic works, the Pentateuch and its Aramaic targum, the liturgy, Tībåt Mårqe, and the Book of Asatir.
  704. Find this resource:
  705. Manuscripts
  706.  
  707. The extant Samaritan manuscripts date from the 11th to the 20th centuries and were written in Nablus and other cities of the Near East in which Samaritans lived (see Geographical Distribution). The script in which Hebrew and Aramaic text were composed was either a majuscule, a modified paleo-Hebrew script or a semicursive (Crown 2001); texts in Arabic were written either in Samaritan characters or in Arabic (i.e., naskhi). The manuscripts are distributed over a wide variety of locations due to the coalescence of two factors: European scholars “rediscovered” the Samaritans in the 16th century and, eager to learn more about them, wanted to buy manuscripts; and second, the Samaritans at the same time were in dire economic straits and saw that they could profit financially from the sale of such manuscripts. It was estimated that today some seventy libraries, public and private, primarily in Europe, the United States, and Israel hold Samaritan manuscripts, or fragments of such, in addition to the manuscripts in possession of the Samaritans in Nablus and Ḥolon. Although a large number have been recorded in published catalogs (see Manuscripts, Catalogues in Crown and Pummer 2005, cited under Samaritan Studies Reference Works), many are yet to be registered and described. For a listing of libraries and their holdings see Rothschild 1989 and Baillet 1991 (cited under Dictionary and Lexica Articles). See also Manuscripts in the subject index of Crown and Pummer 2005.
  708.  
  709. Crown, Alan D. Samaritan Scribes and Manuscripts. Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 80. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2001.
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  711. An updated reprint of articles originally published in Bulletin of John Rylands Library, which now is a handbook of Samaritan codicology. Attempts to establish objective criteria by which to date Samaritan manuscripts and includes a valuable Index of Samaritan Scribes (pp. 384–466), including owners of manuscripts, witnesses, and so on.
  712. Find this resource:
  713. Rothschild, Jean-Pierre. “Samaritan Manuscripts.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 771–794. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
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  715. A list of libraries, organized according to cities, “containing Samaritan manuscripts with a brief analysis of the collections, some few data about the history of the collection (where that is possible), and references to the catalogues or articles where they are described” (p. 777). A very useful tool.
  716. Find this resource:
  717. Exegetical Works
  718.  
  719. In addition to direct commentaries, Torah exegesis is present in many Samaritan literary works, especially in the midrashic and halakhic writings. The extant commentaries on the Torah, or rather on parts of it—either whole books or certain passages—were written in Arabic, beginning in the Middle Ages up to modern times. Very few of the early works have survived. A list is found in Shehadeh 1993. An early exegetical work is Tībåt Mårqe. Ben-Ḥayyim 1988 presents a new critical edition and translation of this work in modern Hebrew. An earlier edition and translation in English is Macdonald 1963. Fine 2012 focuses on a specific feature of the Jewish–Samaritan relationship in the time of Marqe.
  720.  
  721. Ben-Ḥayyim, Ze’ēv, ed. Tībåt Mårqe: A Collection of Samaritan Midrashim. Translated by Ze’ēv Ben-Ḥayyim. Publications of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities; Section of Humanities. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1988.
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  723. Annotated edition and Hebrew translation of one of the most important early Aramaic Samaritan works of midrashic exegesis. Previously known as Memar Marqah (Mīmar Mårqe), Teaching of Marqe; Tībåt Mårqe seems to imply that several distinct writings were kept in a chest (tībh) and attributed to Marqe, the greatest Samaritan scholar. In Hebrew.
  724. Find this resource:
  725. Fine, Steven. “‘For This Schoolhouse Is Beautiful’: A Note on Samaritan ‘Schools’ in Late Antique Palestine.” In Shoshannat Yaakov: Jewish and Iranian Studies in Honor of Yaakov Elman. Edited by Shai Secunda and Steven Fine, 65–75. Brill Reference Library of Judaism 35. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
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  727. Examines the references to schoolhouses in Marqe and his son Nina, retrojected by these two authors into biblical times, similar to Jewish and Christian sources of late antiquity. Raises the question of whether some of the buildings identified by archaeologists as synagogues may in fact have been schoolhouses.
  728. Find this resource:
  729. Macdonald, John, ed. Memar Marqah: The Teaching of Marqah. 2 vols. Translated by John Macdonald. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 83. Berlin: Töpelmann, 1963.
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  731. Macdonald’s edition of the text is now superseded by that of Ben-Ḥayyim; his translation, the only one into a European language, must therefore be checked against Ben-Ḥayyim’s edition.
  732. Find this resource:
  733. Shehadeh, Haseeb. “Commentaries on the Torah.” In A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Edited by Alan D. Crown, Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal, 59–61. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1993.
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  735. Lists commentaries on portions of the Torah—no complete Torah commentaries are known—from the 12th to the 19th centuries, all so far unpublished.
  736. Find this resource:
  737. Halakhic Works
  738.  
  739. Samaritan halakhah (religious laws) has not been collected into authoritative compilations as was the case with Jewish halakhah; instead there are discussions of halakhic differences in early Jewish sources and halakhic treatises by Samaritan scholars from the Middle Ages on. They were written in Arabic and, with few exceptions (Noja 1970; Pohl 1974; Wedel 1987), remain largely unedited and untranslated. A list of major halakhic works is Tal 1993. The principles of Samaritan halakhah are discussed in Bóid 1989a; for a shorter treatment, see Bóid 1989b.
  740.  
  741. Bóid, Iain Ruairidh Mac Mhanainn. Principles of Samaritan Halachah. Studies in Judaism in Late Antiquity 38. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1989a.
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  743. History of the study of Samaritan halakhah and a thorough treatment of the area of intrinsic male and female impurities resulting from certain discharges of bodily fluids. The relevant texts in Samaritan sources are presented in the original Arabic, translated into English, and analyzed and compared with the Jewish halakhah.
  744. Find this resource:
  745. Bóid, I. R. M. “The Samaritan Halachah.” In The Samaritans. Edited by Alan D. Crown, 624–649. Tübingen, West Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1989b.
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  747. Discusses the halakhic sources from the Arabic period; the method of studying and teaching halakhah; the theory of the interrelationship of biblical text, reason, and tradition; the derivation and validation of new halakhah; the relationship of Samaritan halakhah to Jewish halakhah; and polemics against Jewish halakhah.
  748. Find this resource:
  749. Noja, Sergio. Il Kitāb al-Kāfī dei Samaritani. Pubblicazioni del Seminario di Semitistica. Naples, Italy: Istituto Orientale di Napoli, 1970.
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  751. An abridged translation into Italian of the 11th-century work written by the eminent Samaritan theologian Yūsuf b. Salāma al-ʿAskarī. The title “Book of the sufficient” or the “Fully adequate book” refers to the one who is satisfied with the knowledge of the Book of God.
  752. Find this resource:
  753. Pohl, Heinz. Kitāb al-Mīrāt: Das Buch der Erbschaft des Samaritaners Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm: Kritische Edition mit Übersetzung und Kommentar. Studia Samaritana 2. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1974.
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  755. A critical edition, German translation, and commentary of the 12th-century work on the rules of inheritance.
  756. Find this resource:
  757. Tal, Abraham. “Halakhic Literature.” In A Companion to Samaritan Studies. Edited by Alan D. Crown, Reinhard Pummer, and Abraham Tal, 108–111. Tübingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1993.
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  759. After an outline of the problems surrounding the study of Samaritan halakhah, Tal lists and comments on major halakhic works.
  760. Find this resource:
  761. Wedel, Gerhard. “Kitāb aṭ-Ṭabbāḫ des Samaritaners Abū l-Ḥasan aṣ-Ṣūrī: Kritische Edition und kommentierte Übersetzung des ersten Teils.” PhD diss., Freie Universität Berlin, 1987.
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  763. Critical edition and annotated German translation of the first part of the oldest extant halakhic work by the distinguished 11th-century Samaritan scholar Abū l-Ḥasan aṣ-Ṣūrī. The title is usually translated as “Book of cooking or book of slaughtering.” Treats halakhic and philosophical matters and refutes Jewish customs and opinions.
  764. Find this resource:
  765. Chronicles
  766.  
  767. The Chronicles constitute the Samaritans’ historical literature. They are not history in the modern sense of the term but annalistic lists of high priests to which were added events considered to have occurred during their reign. The oldest texts go back to the 10th/11th century CE, the most important Chronicle dating from the 14th century; the most recent Chronicle was written in the 20th century. These works were copied and recopied throughout the centuries, the scribes complementing the text in front of them as they saw fit. They usually begin with Adam and end with the time in which they were composed or copied. The languages of composition are Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. Baillet 1991 (cited under Dictionary and Lexica Articles) surveys all the relevant works. Several Chronicles have been edited and translated: Ben-Ḥayyim 1943–1944 is a Hebrew translation of the 10th-/11th-century work entitled Asaṭīr; Florentin 1999 is an edition and Hebrew translation of the Tūlīda, also called Chronicle Neubauer after its first editor; Juynboll 1848 is an edition and Latin translation of the Samaritan Arabic Book of Joshua, compiled originally, at least in part, in Hebrew or Aramaic but preserved only in Arabic (the so-called Samaritan Hebrew Book of Joshua appears to be an early 20th-century compilation); Stenhouse 1985 is an English translation of the Kitāb al-Tarīkh of Abū l-Fatḥ (Stenhouse’s edition of the Arabic text exists only in the form of the author’s unpublished PhD dissertation); Levy-Rubin 2002 is the edition and English translation of the continuation of Abū l-Fatḥ’s Chronicle; Gaster 1971 (originally published in 1909) is the edition and English translation of the Shalshala or Chain of Samaritan High Priests; Adler and Séligsohn 1903 is an edition and French translation of the New Chronicle, also called Chronicle Adler or Chronicle of Ab Sakwa; and Macdonald 1969 is an edition and English translation of Sepher Ha-Yamim or Chronicle II.
  768.  
  769. Adler, Elkan Nathan, and Max Séligsohn, eds. Une nouvelle chronique samaritaine. Translated by Elkan Nathan Adler and Max Séligsohn. Paris: Durlacher, 1903.
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  771. The language of the New Chronicle, compiled in 1900, is “Judaized” Samaritan Hebrew. In compiling his work, the author, Ab Sakwa, drew on the Tulīdā and other Hebrew-Aramaic or Arabic sources. The narrative of the Chronicle extends from Adam to the year 1900 CE.
  772. Find this resource:
  773. Ben-Ḥayyim, Ze’ev. “The Asaṭīr with Translation and Commentary.” Tarbiz 14 (1943): 104–125, 174–190.
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  775. An annotated edition and Hebrew translation of this Aramaic work with an Arabic title (“Stories”). It is a Chronicle only in the sense that it treats the lives of the Patriarchs from Adam to Moses, elaborating on the biblical traditions with numerous midrashim and legends. In two parts; article continues in Tarbiz 15 (1944): 71–87, 128. In Hebrew.
  776. Find this resource:
  777. Florentin, Moshe. Ha-Tulidah: Kroniḳah Shomronit: Maḳor, targum, perush. Jerusalem: Yad Yitzchak Ben Zvi; Rabbi David Moshe and Amalia Rosen Foundation, 1999.
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  779. A short account of the history of the Samaritans from the creation of the world to the time of the last redactor, enumerating the names of the patriarchs from Adam to Moses and presenting a list of Samaritan high priests from Eleazar the son of Aaron to ʿAmram ben Salāma (b. 1809–d. 1874). In Hebrew.
  780. Find this resource:
  781. Gaster, Moses. “The Chain of Samaritan High Priests: A Synchronistic Synopsis.” In Studies and Texts in Folklore, Magic, Medieval Romance, Hebrew Apocrypha and Samaritan Archaeology. Vol. 1. By Moses Gaster, 483–502. New York: Ktav, 1971.
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  783. Probably written, in Hebrew, by the high priest Jacob ben Aaron (b. 1840–d. 1916), presenting a list of Patriarchs and high priests, numbering 144 in all, with short notices of historical events after the names of some of them. Gaster’s article was originally published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (April 1909): 393–420, which is available online for purchase or by subscription.
  784. Find this resource:
  785. Juynboll, Th. Guil. Joh. Chronicon Samaritanum, Arabice conscriptum, cui titulus est Liber Josuae. Translated by Theodoor G. J. Juynboll. Leiden, The Netherlands: Luchtmans, 1848.
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  787. Edition of the Samaritan Book of Joshua with Latin translation and commentary. The history of the Samaritans from the investiture of Joshua by Moses to the time of the Samaritan leader Baba Rabba in the Roman-Byzantine period. English translation, The Samaritan Chronicle, Or, The Book of Joshua, the Son of Nun, by Oliver T. Crane (New York: Alden, 1890).
  788. Find this resource:
  789. Levy-Rubin, Milka, ed. The Continuatio of the Samaritan Chronicle of Abū l-Fatḥ al-Sāmirī al-Danafī. Translated by Milka Levy-Rubin. Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 10. Princeton, NJ: Darwin, 2002.
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  791. Edition and English translation, with annotations, of the additional material of the Chronicle of Abū ʾl-Fatḥ from the close of the Chronicle as published in Stenhouse 1985 down to the Fatimid period.
  792. Find this resource:
  793. Macdonald, John, ed. The Samaritan Chronicle No. II (or: Sepher Ha-Yamim): From Joshua to Nebuchadnezzar. Translated by John Macdonald. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 107. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1969.
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  795. Edition and English translation of that part of the Chronicle that covers the biblical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. It was written by Tabya b. Pinḥas b. Isaac in 1908 and belongs with the late Samaritan Hebrew Chronicles written for European scholars. The language is “Judaized” Samaritan Hebrew.
  796. Find this resource:
  797. Stenhouse, Paul, ed. The Kitāb al-Tarīkh of Abū ‘l-Fatḥ. Translated by Paul Stenhouse. Studies in Judaica 1. Sydney, Australia: Mandelbaum Trust, University of Sydney, 1985.
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  799. The most complete and most important Samaritan Chronicle, compiled by Abū l-Fatḥ al-Sāmirī al-Danafī in 1355 CE. Begins with Adam and ends with the time of Muhammad of whom it speaks favorably. Abū l-Fatḥ not only lists the sources on which he drew but also uses them critically.
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