in a fine country, richly watered, and surrounded | by gardens, vineyards, orchards, and olive groves.' He adds that no Jews were living there (Itiner. ed. Asher, p. 66). Phocas and Brocardus speak only of the church and tomb of John the Baptist, and of the Greek church and monastery on the summit of the hill. Notices of the place occur in the travellers of the fourteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries; nor are they all so meagre as Dr. Robinson conceives. That of Morison, for instance, is full and exact (Voyage du Mont Sinai, pp. 230-233). Scarcely any traces of the earlier or later Samaria could then be perceived, the materials having been used by the inhabitants for the construction of their own mean dwellings. The then residents were an extremely poor and miserable set of people. In the eighteenth century the place appears to have been left unexplored; but in the present century it has often been visited and described.

tains through substantial cottages of the modern Sebustieh (the Arabic form of Sebaste), which appear to have been constructed to a great extent of ancient materials, very superior in size and quality to anything which could at this day be wrought into an Arab habitation. The first object which attracts the notice of the traveller, and at the same time the most conspicuous ruin of the place, is the church dedicated to John the Baptist, erected on the spot which an old tradition fixed as the place of his burial, if not of his martyrdom. It is said to have been built by the Empress Helena; but the architecture limits its antiquity to the period of the crusades, although a portion of the eastern end seems to have been of earlier date. There is a blending of Greek and Saracenic styles, which is particularly observable in the interior, where there are several pointed arches. Others are round. The columns follow no regular order, while the capitals and ornaments present a motley combination, not to be found in any church erected in or near the age of Constantine. The length of the edifice is 153 feet long inside, besides a porch of 10 feet, and the breadth is 75 feet. The eastern end is rounded in the common Greek style; and resting, as it does, upon a precipitous elevation of nearly 100 feet immediately above the valley, it is a noble and striking monument. Within the enclosure is a common Turkish tomb; and beneath it, at a depth reached by 21 stone steps, is a sepulchre, three or four paces square, where, according to the tradition, John the Baptist was interred after he had been slain by Herod. This tradition existed in the days of Jerome; but there is no earlier trace of it: and if Josephus is correct in stating that John was beheaded in the castle of Machærus, on the east of the Dead Sea (Antiq. xviii. 5. 2), his burial in Samaria is very improbable.

On approaching the summit of the hill, the traveller comes suddenly upon an area, once surrounded by limestone columns, of which fifteen are still standing and two prostrate. These columns form two rows, thirty-two paces apart, while less than two paces intervene between the columns. They measure seven feet nine inches in circumference; but there is no trace of the order of their architecture, nor are there any foundations to indicate the nature of the edifice to which they belonged. Some refer them to Herod's temple to Augustus, others to a Greek church which seems to have once occupied the summit of the hill. The descent of the hill on the W.S.W. side brings the traveller to a very remarkable colonnade, which is easily traceable by a great number of columns, erect or prostrate, along the side of the hill for at least one-third of a mile, where it terminates at a heap of ruins, near the eastern extremity of the ancient site. The columns are sixteen feet high, two feet in diameter at the base, and one

The Hill of Samaria is an oblong mountain of considerable elevation, and very regular in form, situated in the midst of a broad deep valley, the continuation of that of Nabulus (Shechem), which here expands into a breadth of five or six miles. Beyond this valley, which completely isolates the hill, the mountains rise again on every side, forming a complete wall around the city. They are terraced to the tops, sown in grain, and planted with olives and figs, in the midst of which a number of handsome villages appear to great advantage, their white stone cottages contrasting strikingly with the verdure of the trees. The Hill of Samaria' itself is culti-foot eight inches at the top. The capitals have vated from its base, the terraced sides and summits being covered with corn and with olivetrees. About midway up the ascent the hill is surrounded by a narrow terrace of level land, like a belt; below which the roots of the hill spread off more gradually into the valleys. Higher up, too, are the marks of slight terraces, once occupied, perhaps, by the streets of the ancient city. The ascent of the hill is very steep, and the narrow footpath winds among the moun

disappeared; but the shafts retain their polish, and, when not broken, are in good preservation. Eighty-two of these columns are still erect, and the number of those fallen and broken must be much greater. Most of them are of the limestone common to the region; but some are of white marble, and some of granite. The mass of ruins in which this colonnade terminates toward the west is composed of blocks of hewn stone, covering no great area on the slope of the hill, many feet lower

than the summit. Neither the situation nor extent of this pile favours the notion of its having been a palace; nor is it easy to conjecture the design of the edifice. The colonnade, the remains of which now stand solitary and mournful in the midst of ploughed fields, may, however, with little hesitation, be referred to the time of Herod the Great, and must be regarded as belonging to some one of the splendid structures with which he adorned the city. In the deep ravine which bounds the city on the north, there is another colonnade, not visited by Dr. Robinson, but fully described by Dr. Olin (Travels, ii. 371-373). The area in which these columns stand is completely shut in by hills, with the exception of an opening on the north-east; and so peculiarly sequestered is the situation, that it is only visible from a few points of the heights of the ancient site, by which it is overshadowed. The columns, of which a large number are entire and several in fragments, are erect, and arranged in a quadrangle, 196 paces in length, and 64 in breadth. They are three paces asunder, which would give 170 columns as the whole number when the colonnade was complete. The columns resemble in size and material those of the colonnade last noticed, and appear to belong to the same age. These also probably formed part of Herod's city, though it is difficult to determine the use to which the colonnade was appropriated. Dr. Olin is possibly right in his conjecture, that this was one of the places of public assembly and amusement which Herod introduced into his dominions (Robinson, Researches, iii. 136-149; Olin, Travels, ii. 366-374; Buckingham, Travels in Palestine, pp. 512-517; Richardson, Travels, ii. 409-413; Schubert, Morgenland, iii. 156-162; Raumer, Palästina, p. 158; Maundrell, Journey, pp. 78, 79).

As

away by the victors. With them, therefore, the
heathen colonists became incorporated. But the
latter were far more numerous than the former,
and had all power in their own hands. The rem-
nant of the Israelites was so inconsiderable and
insignificant as not to affect, to any important
extent, the opinions of the new inhabitants.
the people were a mixed race, their religion also
assumed a mixed character. In it the worship of
idols was associated with that of the true God.
But apostacy from Jehovah was not universal.
On the return of the Jews from the Babylonish
captivity, the Samaritans wished to join them in
rebuilding the Temple, saying, 'Let us build with
you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do
sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon,
king of Assur, which brought us up hither' (Ezra
iv. 2). But the Jews declined the proffered assist-
ance; and from this time the Samaritans threw
every obstacle in their way. Hence arose that
inveterate enmity between the two nations which
afterwards increased to such a height as to become
proverbial. In the reign of Darius Nothus, Ma-
nasses, son of the Jewish high-priest, married the
daughter of Sanballat the Samaritan governor;
and to avoid the necessity of repudiating her, as
the law of Moses required, went over to the Sama-
ritans, and became high-priest in the temple which
his father-in-law built for him on Mount Gerizim.
From this time Samaria became a refuge for all
malcontent Jews; and the very name of each
people became odious to the other. About the
year B.c. 109, John Hyrcanus, high-priest of the
Jews, destroyed the city and temple of the Sama-
ritans; but, B.C. 25, Herod rebuilt them at great
expense. In their new temple, however, the Sa-
maritans could not be induced to offer sacrifices,
but still continued to worship on Gerizim.
the present day they have dwindled down to a few
families. Shechem, now called Nabulus, is their
place of abode. They still possess a copy of the
Mosaic law.

At

SAMARITANS. In the books of Kings there are brief notices of the origin of the people called Samaritans. The ten tribes which revolted from Rehoboam, son of Solomon, chose Jeroboam for their king. After his elevation A different account of the origin of this people to the throne he set up golden calves at Dan has been given by Hengstenberg, whom Häverand Bethel, lest repeated visits of his subjects to nick and Robinson follow. According to this Jerusalem, for the purpose of worshipping the true learned writer, all the inhabitants were carried God, should withdraw their allegiance from him- away into Assyria. None were left in the land by self. Afterwards Samaria, built by Omri, became the conquerors. Shalmaneser greatly weakened the metropolis of Israel, and thus the separation the ten tribes, but did not extinguish the kingbetween Judah and Israel was rendered complete. dom of Israel, because at his invasion many of The people took the name Samaritans from the the people took refuge in the most inaccessible capital city. In the ninth year of Hosea, Samaria and retired parts of their country, or fled into was taken by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, Judah. Afterwards they returned by degrees; who carried away the inhabitants into captivity, and when Esarhaddon came against them, they and introduced colonies into their place from were carried away entirely. From the time of Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and Sephar- Esarhaddon there were none but heathens in the vaim. These new inhabitants carried along with land. The Samaritans were wholly of heathen them their own idolatrous worship; and on being origin. Hence they requested the Assyrian king infested with lions, sent to Esarhaddon, king of to send them an Israelite priest (Beiträge zur Assyria. A priest of the tribe of Levi was accord-Einleit. ins alte Testam. i. 177; ii. 3, &c.). ingly dispatched to them, who came and dwelt in Bethel, teaching the people how they should fear the Lord. Thus it appears that the people were a mixed race. The greater part of the Israelites had been carried away captive by the Assyrians, including the rich, the strong, and such as were able to bear arms. But the poor and the feeble had been left. The country had not been so entirely depopulated as to possess no Israelite whatever. The dregs of the populace, particularly those who appeared incapable of active service, were not taken

Want of space prevents us from detailing the grounds of this view, or from entering into its refutation. It has been ably combated by Kalkar (in Pelt's Mitarbeiten for 1840, drittes Heft, p. 24, &c.), to whom the reader is referred. We cannot but reject the novel hypothesis, notwithstanding the ability with which it has been put forward.

With the remnant above referred to a corre spondence was formerly maintained by several learned Europeans, but without leading to any im

portant result. It was commenced by Joseph | character to which they were accustomed. In Scaliger, in 1559; and resumed, after a century, proof of this hypothesis it has been affirmed, that by several learned men in England, in 1675; and the variations in the Samaritan copy from the by the great Ethiopic scholar, Job Ludolf, in 1684. | Hebrew are such as were occasioned in the tranThe illustrious Orientalist, De Sacy, also held scription by mistaking letters similar in Hebrew, correspondence with them. All their letters to but unlike in the Samaritan. This supposition England and France, and all that was then known has been completely set aside by Kopp, in his respecting them, he published in a work entitled, Bilder und Schriften der Vorzeit; and by HupCorrespondance des Samaritains, &c. in Notices | feld, in his Beleuchtung dunkler Stellen, u. s. w. et Extr. des MSS. de la Biblioth. du Roi, tom. | (Studien und Kritiken, 1830), in which it is xii.). The best accounts of them given by modern convincingly shown that the present Hebrew travellers are by Pliny Fisk (American Mission- square character had no existence till long after ary Herald for 1824), who visited them in 1823; Ezra; and that, so far from owing its origin to and by Robinson and Smith, who visited them in Chaldæa and having been introduced by Ezra, it 1838 (see Biblical Researches and Travels in was merely the gradual work of time. When Palestine, iii. 113-116).-S. D. Manasseh fled from Jerusalem, the Samaritan and Hebrew characters must have been substantially the same.

SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH. The Samaritan Pentateuch was mentioned by the fathers Eusebius, Cyril of Alexandria, Procopius of Gaza, Diodorus, Jerome, and others. After it had lain concealed for upwards of a thousand years, its existence began to be doubted. At length Peter Della Valle, in 1616, procured a complete copy, which De Sancy, then French ambassador at Constantinople, sent to the library of the Oratoire at Paris, in 1623. It was first described by Morin, and afterwards printed in the Paris Polyglott. Not long after, Archbishop Ussher procured six copies from the East; and so great was the number in the time of Kennicott, that he collated sixteen for his edition of the Hebrew Bible.

4thly. Others are of opinion that copies of the Pentateuch must have been in the hands of Israel from the time of Rehoboam, as well as among Judah; that they were preserved by the former equally as by the latter. This hypothesis, first advanced by Morin, has been adopted by Houbi gant, Cappellus, Kennicott, Michaelis, Eichhorn, Bauer, Bertholdt, Stuart, and others, and appears to be the true one. The prophets, who frequently inveigh against the Israelites for their idolatry and their crimes, never accuse them of being destitute of the law, or ignorant of its contents. It is wholly improbable, too, that the people, when carried captive into Assyria, took with them all the copies of the law. Thus we are brought to the conclu

copy, originally flowed from the autograph of Moses. The two constitute, in fact, different recensions of the same work, and coalesce in point of antiquity.

In regard to the antiquity of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the source from which the docu-sion, that the Samaritan, as well as the Jewish ment came, various opinions have been entertained. 1st. The hypothesis maintained by Ussher was, that the Samaritan Pentateuch was the production of an impostor named Dositheus, the founder of a sect among the Samaritans, and who pretended to be the Messiah. It is thought that he compiled this copy of the Pentateuch from the Hebrew and the Septuagint, adding, expunging, and altering, according to his pleasure. Ussher appeals to Origen and Photius, whose testimony, however, when examined, affords no evidence of the truth of this statement. It is well known that the Alexandrian Samaritans opposed Dositheus, and would not have received such a compilation. Besides, had he corrupted any passages, it is natural to think that he would have perverted those relating to the Messiah, that they might be more easily referred to himself. But places of this nature in the Samaritan copies agree with the Hebrew; and we may be farther assured, that the Jews would not have failed to mention such a fact as a just ground of accusation against the Samaritans.

If this account of the Samaritan codex be correct, it is easy to perceive the reason why the Samaritans did not receive all the Jewish books previously written. When the schism of the tribes took place, the Pentateuch was commonly circulated, and usually regarded as a sacred national collection, containing all their laws and institutions. Though David's Psalms and some of Solomon's compositions may also have been written at that time; yet the former were chiefly in the hands of the Levites who regulated the Temple music, and were employed in the public service of Jehovah; while the latter were doubtless disliked by the ten tribes on account of their author, who lived at Jerusalem, and were rare from the non-transcription of copies. The prophets must have been unwelcome to the Israelites, because they uttered many things against them, affirming that Jehovah could not be worshipped with acceptance in any other place than Jeru

2ndly. Le Clerc and Poncet imagined, that this copy of the law was made by the Israelitish priest who was sent by the king of Assyria to in-salem. This circumstance was sufficient to prevent struct the new inhabitants in the religion of the country. This is a mere hypothesis, unsupported by historical testimony. It was not necessary for the priest to compose a new system, but to instruct the people out of the Pentateuch as it then existed. When the existing copy was sufficient for his purpose, he would not have undertaken the labour of preparing an entirely new work.

3rdly. It was the opinion of Hottinger, Prideaux, Fitzgerald, and others, that Manasseh transcribed one of Ezra's corrected copies which he took with him from Jerusalem, into the old

that people from receiving any of the prophetical writings till Ezra's time, when their hatred to him and his associates was so great, that they would not have admitted any collection of the Scriptures coming through such hands. Whatever other books, besides the Pentateuch, were written in the time of Rehoboam must have been comparatively unknown to the mass of the people. This fact, in connection with political considerations, was sufficient to lead the Israelites to reject most, except

those of Moses.

In addition to the Pentateuch, the Samaritans