The Samaritans for those who do not know are the Sister-Nation or Sister-Religion of Judaism, while not identifying as Jews they identify as Israelites a claim that their Jewish Brethren accept. Samaritans are the descendants of the Northern Tribes of Israel having remained in the Land of Israel when the Jews were exiled to Babylon. The Samaritans thus retained a distinct set of religious claims for example their belief that the Temple was on Mount Gerizim and not in Jerusalem, that the 10th Commandment affirmed this and rejected the post-Torah additions such as the Tanakh and of course other Rabbinic Texts. Above all the Samaritans managed to continue their line of High Priests and preferred the authority of Priests over Rabbis & Scholars.
Now that we've got a rough though obviously imperfect description of what separates the Samaritans from the Jews, what about a little background for why they are not as widespread as their cousins. Though there was a Samaritan diaspora, in fact one of the earliest Synagogues outside the Land of Israel, at Mount Delos is suspected to be a Samaritan Synagogue, this diaspora never had a figure like the Exilarch nor a religious tradition that included them into the narrative of the Samaritan Israelite nation (at least to my knowledge). Thus the Samaritans were always very centralised as a religious nation within the region of Samaria, especially at Shechem (Modern-day Nablus, which coincidentally is also the location of Mt. Gerizim and thus the Samaritan Temple)
Samaritans, while related to the Jews, were not one and the same and while the Jews were experiencing a time of turmoil and great persecution after the events of the Jewish Revolts, the Samaritans remained reluctant to come to the aid of the Jews. Indeed, in the years after the depopulation of Judea, the Samaritans took advantage of the situation to resettle those lands and reap its bounty. This Samaritan Golden Age saw the Samaritan population peak at about 500,000 but was almost immediately overshadowed by increasing persecution of Rome's now Christian emperors. Emperor Zeno was harsh on the Samaritans, reportedly he:
went to Neapolis (Shechem), gathered the elders and asked them to convert; when they refused, Zeno had many Samaritans killed, and re-built the synagogue as a church. Zeno then took for himself Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans worshiped God, and built several edifices, among them a tomb for his recently deceased son, on which he put a cross, so that the Samaritans, worshiping God, would prostrate in front of the tomb. Later, in 484, the Samaritans revolted.
This would culminate in a series of revolts, four in total that would decimate the Samaritan population. The Samaritan population would receive some brief respite when the Rashidun Caliphate captured the Holy Land in the 7th century but would face multiple bouts of persecution, one of the most harsh being at the direction of Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakam. At their lowest recorded population, an Ottoman census stated that they were only some 100 strong, still after centuries the Samaritans have only recovered somewhat and are now some 820 strong. Sadly nowhere near the population of Samaritans in biblical times.
So the AHC Rules are as follows:
1. Have the Samaritan Population exceed a population of a Million
2. No Judaism-Screws (Nothing more than OTL at least)
3. Preserve the Samaritan Temple in some form
Bonus Goal(s):
1. An Offshoot of Samaritanism becomes noteworthy (doesn't have to be successful, but it has to make enough of an impact, E.g. Mandaeism with John the Baptist)
2. Samaritan Diaspora reaches China and/or India
Now that we've got a rough though obviously imperfect description of what separates the Samaritans from the Jews, what about a little background for why they are not as widespread as their cousins. Though there was a Samaritan diaspora, in fact one of the earliest Synagogues outside the Land of Israel, at Mount Delos is suspected to be a Samaritan Synagogue, this diaspora never had a figure like the Exilarch nor a religious tradition that included them into the narrative of the Samaritan Israelite nation (at least to my knowledge). Thus the Samaritans were always very centralised as a religious nation within the region of Samaria, especially at Shechem (Modern-day Nablus, which coincidentally is also the location of Mt. Gerizim and thus the Samaritan Temple)
Samaritans, while related to the Jews, were not one and the same and while the Jews were experiencing a time of turmoil and great persecution after the events of the Jewish Revolts, the Samaritans remained reluctant to come to the aid of the Jews. Indeed, in the years after the depopulation of Judea, the Samaritans took advantage of the situation to resettle those lands and reap its bounty. This Samaritan Golden Age saw the Samaritan population peak at about 500,000 but was almost immediately overshadowed by increasing persecution of Rome's now Christian emperors. Emperor Zeno was harsh on the Samaritans, reportedly he:
went to Neapolis (Shechem), gathered the elders and asked them to convert; when they refused, Zeno had many Samaritans killed, and re-built the synagogue as a church. Zeno then took for himself Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans worshiped God, and built several edifices, among them a tomb for his recently deceased son, on which he put a cross, so that the Samaritans, worshiping God, would prostrate in front of the tomb. Later, in 484, the Samaritans revolted.
This would culminate in a series of revolts, four in total that would decimate the Samaritan population. The Samaritan population would receive some brief respite when the Rashidun Caliphate captured the Holy Land in the 7th century but would face multiple bouts of persecution, one of the most harsh being at the direction of Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakam. At their lowest recorded population, an Ottoman census stated that they were only some 100 strong, still after centuries the Samaritans have only recovered somewhat and are now some 820 strong. Sadly nowhere near the population of Samaritans in biblical times.
So the AHC Rules are as follows:
1. Have the Samaritan Population exceed a population of a Million
2. No Judaism-Screws (Nothing more than OTL at least)
3. Preserve the Samaritan Temple in some form
Bonus Goal(s):
1. An Offshoot of Samaritanism becomes noteworthy (doesn't have to be successful, but it has to make enough of an impact, E.g. Mandaeism with John the Baptist)
2. Samaritan Diaspora reaches China and/or India
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