[17][18] [c] That the meaning of their name signifies Guardians/Keepers/Watchers [of the Law/Samaritan Pentateuch], rather than being a toponym referring to the inhabitants of the region of Samaria, was remarked on by a number of Christian Church Fathers, including Epiphanius of Salamis in the Panarion, Jerome and Eusebius in the Chronicon, and Origen in The Commentary on Saint John's Gospel.

In Rabbinic Judaism, for example in the Tosefta Berakhot, the Samaritans are called Cuthites or Cutheans (Hebrew: כותים, Kutim), referring to the ancient city of Kutha, geographically located in what is today Iraq.

[31] Accounts of Samaritan origins in respectively 2 Kings 17:6,24 and Chronicles, together with statements in both Ezra and Nehemiah differ in important degrees, suppressing or highlighting narrative details according to the various intentions of their authors.

[l]The emergence of the Samaritans as an ethnic and religious community distinct from other Levant peoples appears to have occurred at some point after the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in approximately 721 BCE.

[39] Yitzakh Magen argues that the version of Chronicles is perhaps closer to the historical truth and that the Assyrian settlement was unsuccessful; he asserts that a notable Israelite population remained in Samaria, part of which (following the conquest of Judah) fled south and settled there as refugees.

Archaeological evidence from these regions shows that a large depopulation process took place there in the late 8th century BCE, with numerous sites being destroyed, abandoned, or feature a long occupation gap.

[46] Nevertheless, the Book of Chronicles records that King Hezekiah of Judah invited members of the tribes of Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Issachar and Manasseh to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover after the destruction of Israel.

[52] E. Mary Smallwood wrote that the Samaritans "were the survivors of the pre-Exilic northern kingdom of Israel, diluted by intermarriage with alien settlers," and that they broke away from mainstream Judaism in the 4th century BCE.

[59] As the Babylonian captivity had primarily affected the lowlands of Judea, the Samarian populations had likely avoided the casualties of the crisis of exile and in fact showed signs of widespread prosperity.

Despite this political discourse, the text implies that relationships between the Jews and Samaritans were otherwise quite amicable, as intermarriage between the two seems commonplace, even to the point that the High Priest Joiada married Sanballat's daughter.

[62] During Achaemenid rule, material evidence suggests significant overlap between Jews and proto-Samaritans, with the two groups sharing a common language and script, eschewing the claim that the schism had taken form by this time.

Though the temple on Mount Gerizim had existed since the 5th century BCE, evidence shows that its sacred precinct experienced an extravagant expansion during the early Hellenistic era, indicating its status as the preeminent place of Samaritan worship had begun to crystallize.

[66] The presence of a flourishing cult centered around Gerizim is documented by the sudden resurgence of Yahwistic and Hebrew names in contemporary correspondence, suggesting that the Samaritan community had officially been established by the 2nd century BCE.

6:2).Josephus quotes the Samaritans as saying: We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor and saviour, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no disturbances, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since we are aliens from their nation and from their customs, but let our temple which at present hath no name at all, be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.In the letter, defended as genuine by E. Bickerman and M. Stern, the Samaritans assert their distinction from the Judeans based on both race (γένος) and in customs (ἔθος).

According to II Maccabees:Shortly afterwards, the Greek king sent Gerontes the Athenian to force the Jews of Israel to violate their ancestral customs and live no longer by the laws of God; and to profane the Temple in Jerusalem and dedicate it to Olympian Zeus, and the one on Mount Gerizim to Zeus, Patron of Strangers, as the inhabitants of the latter place had requested.During the Hellenistic period, Samaria was largely divided between a Hellenizing faction based in Samaria (Sebastia) and a pious faction in Shechem and surrounding rural areas, led by the High Priest.

Zeno rebuilt the church of St. Procopius in Neapolis, and the Samaritans were banned from Mount Gerizim, on whose top a signaling tower was built to alert in case of civil unrest.

According to Milka Levy-Rubin, many Samaritans were forced to convert under Abbasid and Tulunid rule (878–905 CE), having been subjected to hardships such as droughts, earthquakes, persecution by local governors, high taxes on religious minorities, and anarchy.

The community's situation briefly improved when this uprising was put down by Abbasid forces, and High Priest Pinhas ben Netanel resumed worship in the Nablus synagogue.

[97] The calamities that befell them during the Frankish reign came from Muslims such as the commander of the Dasmascene army, Bazwȃdj, who raided Nablus in 1137 and abducted 500 Samaritan men, women and children back to Damascus.

[104] Following the death of High Priest Shelamia ben Pinhas, Muslim persecution of Samaritans intensified, and they became the target of violent riots that led to many of them converting to Islam.

[100] The status of the Samaritan community of Nablus greatly improved in the early 18th century because one of them, Ibrahim al-Danafi, who was also a poet and an author, worked for the Tuqan family, which then dominated the city.

As a small community physically divided between neighbors in a hostile region, Samaritans have been hesitant to overtly take sides in the Arab–Israeli conflict, fearing that doing so could lead to negative repercussions.

This often poses a problem for the women, who are typically less than eager to adopt the strict interpretation of biblical (Levitical) laws regarding menstruation, by which they must live in a separate dwelling during their periods and after childbirth.

[132] According to the historian Fayyad Altif, large numbers of Samaritans converted due to persecution under various Muslim rulers, and because the monotheistic nature of Islam made it easy for them to accept it.

[91] Later, the al-Hakim Edict issued by the Fatimid Caliphate in 1021, ordering Jews and Christians in the Southern Levant to convert to Islam or leave, along with another forced conversion by the rebel ibn Firāsa,[5] hastened the Samaritans' rapid decline and nearly led to their extinction as a distinct religious community.

[133] In 1940, Israeli historian and future president Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wrote an article in which he stated that two thirds of the residents of Nablus and the surrounding neighboring villages were of Samaritan origin.

According to Samaritan tradition, Joshua built a temple (al-haikal) on Mount Gerizim and placed therein a tabernacle (al-maškan) in the second year of the Israelites' entry into the land of Canaan.

[135][s] According to Samaritan scripture and tradition, Mount Gerizim, located near the Biblical city of Shechem (on the southern side of modern-day Nablus, West Bank), has been venerated as the holiest place for the Israelites since the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, long before the Temple in Jerusalem was established under Davidic and Solomonic rule over the United Kingdom of Israel.

The legitimacy of the Judaic versus Samaritan belief was argued by Jewish scholar Andronicus ben Meshullam in the 2nd century BCE at the court of King Ptolemy VI Philometor.

"[142] The Samaritans have retained an offshoot of the Ancient Hebrew script, a High Priesthood, the slaughtering and eating of lambs on Passover eve, and the celebration of the first month's beginning around springtime as the New Year.