The Samaritans are a strict sect who believe that their form of Ancient Israelite Religion , as distinct from that of the Jews, is the true one, going back to the period before the building of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem. They also believe in an ultimate Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead.
Inscriptions indicate something of a Samaritan diaspora in the eastern Mediterranean.
In 484 and 529 Samaritan rebellions against the Christian authorities were ruthlessly suppressed, and since then they have remained a small community in Israel. Half of the Samaritans now live with their High Priest near the Palestinian town of Nablus, the rest near the Israeli town of Holon. The only object employed in Samaritan worship is the Torah scroll, still written in the ancient and highly distinctive Samaritan script, and encased in ornate silver and velvet. Even the priests' vestments, unlike those of the ancient Judaean hierarchy, are devoid of decoration. There are only about 500 today.