[3] The mountain is particularly steep on the northern side, is sparsely covered at the top with shrubbery, and lower down there is a spring with a high yield of fresh water.

[5] The mountain is mentioned in the Bible as the place where, upon first entering the Promised Land after the Exodus, the Israelites performed ceremonies of blessings, as they had been instructed by Moses.

In Samaritan tradition, it is the oldest and most central mountain in the world, towering above the Great Flood and providing the first land for Noah’s disembarkation.

[6][12] The Pulpit Commentary suggests that these mountains were selected probably "because they stand in the center of the Land both from north to south, and from east to west".

A commentary in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that "the face of Gerizim, the mount of blessing, is the more fertile; the opposite face of Ebal, the mount of curse, much the more bare",[13] but the Pulpit Commentary states that both Gerizim and Ebal are "equally barren-looking, though neither is wholly destitute of culture and vegetation".

The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin were to be sent to Gerizim, while those of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali were to remain on Ebal.

[19] The altar to God is again mentioned in the Book of Joshua, when, after the Battle of Ai, Joshua builds an altar of unhewn stones, the Israelites make peace offerings on it, the law of Moses is written onto the stones, and the Israelites split into the two groups specified in Deuteronomy and pronounce blessings on Mount Gerizim and curses on Mount Ebal, as instructed in the law of Moses.

[27] Religious rivalry between Samaritans and Jews led to Mount Gerizim being destroyed by the latter in 112–111 BCE, on orders of John Hyrcanus.

Pontius Pilate, Roman governor of Judaea, alarmed by the growing assembly, deployed troops to block their ascent.

Vespasian dispatched Cerialis, who commanded Legio V Macedonica, with a small force of 600 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, probably banking on the Samaritans' lack of defenses and summer water shortages.

[32](pp 227–228) Eventually, when Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire, Samaritans were barred from worshiping on Mount Gerizim.

[33][dubious – discuss][full citation needed] In 484, during the reign of Emperor Zeno, a martyrium-type octagonal church dedicated to the Theotokos (the God-bearing Virgin Mary) was erected at the site.

[4][33] As a result, the same year, Julianus ben Sabar led a pro-Samaritan revolt and by 530 had captured most of Samaria, destroying churches and killing the priests and officials.

[37](pp 157–165) The archeological finds have shown that the precincts of the Samaritan temple, not including its gates, measured 96 m × 98 m. Inside the perimeter, thousands of pottery vessels and burned bones of animal sacrifices were found – sheep, goats, cattle, and doves[37](p 162) – as well as many stones with inscriptions containing the Tetragrammaton (the name of God).

[31] Structure B was surrounded by a courtyard (60 m × 40 m, with 1.5 m thick walls) similar to the platform above it, and was dated to during or before the Hellenistic period, from ceramics found in a cistern cut into the bedrock at the northern side.