The association is made already by Jerome in 385 and continued through the centuries,[6] the British Mandate authorities adopting the name Good Samaritan Inn for the site.

[2] However, the identification as the "inn of the good Samaritan" is neither of Byzantine, nor of Crusader date, but of a later time, when pilgrims saw in the blood-coloured rocks rather the symbolic proof that this was the place where the traveller in the parable was beaten by the robbers.

[7][6] Eusebius, writing before 324 CE, mentions the Late Roman fort of Maledomni, whose traces have disappeared under the Templar castle of Maldoim.

[7] In 385, St Jerome accompanied his benefactress, the Roman patrician Paula, on her pilgrimage to Jericho, and at this site recalled the parable of the merciful Samaritan, seemingly hinting at the existence there of a church and road station.

[6] Felix Fabri wrote, after his 1483–84 pilgrimage to the Holy Land, about the ruined inn of which only the dangerously weathered four walls were still standing around a small well, a rare and important landmark along the steep ascent in an arid landscape.

[6] The Palestine Exploration Fund studied the site in 1873[6] and reported on the ruins of the inn: "Khan Hathrurah — A Saracen hostel, standing on high ground, and just north of the present Jericho road.

North-east of this, on the highest part of the hill, are the remains of a strong fortress, which commands the road here, ascending through a narrow pass between walls of rock on the east.

The rock, especially on the west, is of a ruddy color like burnt brick, whence the title, Tal'at ed Damm, 'Ascent of Blood ', is applied to the whole hill, and sometimes to the castle on the summit".

It was initiated by Yitzhak Magen, the Staff Officer for Archaeology at the Israeli Civil Administration for the Judea and Samaria Area.

The restored mosaic floor of the 6th-century church has been provided with benches along the ruined walls and is used for holding mass by visiting Christian groups.