Page "Samaritans" Paragraph 4

Historically, Samaritans were a large community — up to more than a million in late Roman times, but were then gradually reduced to several tens of thousands a few centuries ago — their unprecedented demographic shrinkage has been a result of various historical events, including, most notably, the bloody suppression of the Third Samaritan Revolt ( 529 CE ) against the Byzantine Christian rulers, and mass conversion to Islam in the Early Muslim period of Palestine.

According to their tally, there were 751 Samaritans as of January 1, 2012, living exclusively in two localities, one in Kiryat Luza on Mount Gerizim near the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and the other in the Israeli city of Holon.

Also eight families in Gaza City were found to be Samaritans.

There are followers of various backgrounds adhering to Samaritan traditions outside of Israel, especially in the United States.