Samaritanism is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Samaritan people, who originate from the Hebrews and Israelites and began to emerge as a relatively distinct group after the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the Iron Age. Central to the faith is the Samaritan Pentateuch, which Samaritans believe is the original and unchanged version of the Torah.
Samaritan mezuzah in the city of Nablus, 2013
Samaritans, from a photo c. 1900 by the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Entrance to a modern Samaritan synagogue in the city of Holon, Israel
The Samaritans, also known as Israelite Samaritans, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of ancient Israel and Judah that comprises the northern half of today's West Bank. They are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion that developed alongside Judaism.
Samaritans marking Passover on Mount Gerizim, near modern Nablus and ancient Shechem, 2006
Foreigners eaten by lions in Samaria, illustration by Gustave Doré from the 1866 La Sainte Bible, The Holy Bible
Ancient inscription in Samaritan Hebrew. From a photo c. 1900 by the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Ruins of a 4th-century Samaritan synagogue likely abandoned after the Samaritan Revolts, Khirbet Samara