Yitzhak Magen and his team have secured 395 inscriptions and fragments of inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic on the summit of Mount Gerizim. The number of inscriptions in one place is noteworthy, and calls for attention. Another find was made on the island of Delos in the Aegean Sea. Two inscriptions which praise benefactors for their support for the "Israelites who send their temple tax to Argarizein" were uncov ered. The author suggests a new understanding of these inscriptions, and by reading them together it is possible to have a unique glimpse of how early Samaritan selfconsciousness took shape by distancing itself from the Jewish position. Many of the phrases in the Gerizim corpus find parallels in comparable material from Egypt, the Sinai peninsula, Mesopotamia and Turkey. The phrase "in this place," however, has no parallels in other inscriptions, and together with the references to the home village of the dedicators this gives an impression of a community dedicated to their own place of worship, Mount Gerizim, and living in its vicinity. The community behind the Delos inscriptions term themselves "Israelites," and directs their religious focus towards Mount Gerizim. This is the earliest attestation of this name for the Samaritans.
Keywords
Gerizim -Delos -inscriptions -Samaritans -self-consciousnessDuring the recent excavations on the summit of Mount Gerizim 395 inscrip tions and fragments of inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic were found.
The article describes the different models for understanding the origin of the Samaritans: the Samaritans’ own view; Flavius Josephus’ two stories; a model based upon the results of the excavations of the cities of Samaria and Shechem, plus information from ancient authors; new insights from the Dead Sea Scrolls; and models based on the results of the Mount Gerizim excavations; and the Delos inscriptions. Each of these models has its modern followers in scholarship, and their various adherents are named. A last part of the article is devoted to the state of the question of the origin of the Samaritans. The presentation is organized according to the sources because the material at hand has produced different solutions to the pertinent questions. Through quoting the texts and presenting the results of the excavations, the author gives the reader an opportunity to form her or his own opinions, both on the different theories and on the origin of the Samaritans.
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