Samaritan Revolts The Samaritan Revolts were a series of insurrections during the 5th and 6th centuries in Palaestina Prima province , launched by the Samaritans against the Byzantine Empire . The revolts were marked by great violence on both sides , and their brutal suppression at the hands of the Byzantines and their Ghassanid allies severely reduced the Samaritan population . The events irreversibly shifted the demographics of the region , making the Christians the only dominant group in the Palaestina Prima province for many decades onward . Some historians draft comparisons between the consequences of the Samaritan Revolts of the 5th and 6th centuries upon Samaritans to the consequences of Jewish - Roman Wars of the 1st and 2nd centuries upon the Jews in the region . Conflict background . Samaritans fared badly under the Roman Empire , when Samaria was a part of the Roman - ruled province of Judaea . Though not directly targeted , Samaritans also suffered the severe consequences of Jewish – Roman wars in the area during and after AD 66 - 136 . Following the period of Jewish - Roman wars , the previously dominating Jewish community went almost extinct across Judaea and the shore of Southern Levant , remaining a majority only in Galilee and Bashan ( Golan ) . Samaritans and Byzantine Christians filled this vacuum in the central regions of Southern Levant , whereas Nabataeans and Christian Ghassanid Arabs settled the periphery . This period is considered a golden age for the Samaritan community . The Temple of Gerizim was rebuilt after the Bar Kochba revolt in Judaea , around AD 135 . With the withdrawal of Roman legions , Samaria enjoyed a limited kind of independence on the course of the 3rd and 4th century . Baba Rabba , the leader of the Samaritans , divided Samaritan territories to districts , and established local rulers out of aristocratic Samaritan families . He also executed a series of reforms and installed state institutions . Much of Samaritan liturgy was set by Baba Rabba during this time . This period of semi - independence was however brief , as Byzantine forces overran Samaria , and took Baba Rabba captive to Constantinople , where he died in prison several years later c . AD 362 . Justa uprising . During the reign of Emperor Zeno , tensions between the Christian community and the Samaritans in Neapolis grew dramatically . According to Samaritan sources , Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno ( who ruled 474 - 491 and whom the sources call " Zait the King of Edom " ) persecuted the Samaritans with no mercy . The Emperor went to Sichem ( " Neapolis " ) , gathered the elders and asked them to convert ; when they refused , Zeno had many Samaritans killed , and re - built the synagogue to a church . Zeno then took for himself Mount Gerizim , where the Samaritans worshipped God , and built several edifices , among them a tomb for his recently deceased son , on which he put a cross , so that the Samaritans , worshipping God , would prostrate in front of the tomb . Later , in 484 , the Samaritans revolted , provoked by rumors that the Christians intended to transfer the remains of Aaron ' s sons and grandsons Eleazar , Ithamar and Phinehas . Samaritans reacted by entering the cathedral of Neapolis , killing the Christians inside and severing the fingers of the bishop Terebinthus . The Samaritans elected Justa ( or Justasa ) as their king and moved to Caesarea , where a noteworthy Samaritan community lived . There many Christians were killed and the church of St . Procopius was destroyed . Justa celebrated the victory with games in the circus . According to John Malalas , the D " ux Palaestinae " Asclepiades , whose troops were reinforced by the Caesarea - based Arcadiani of general Rheges , defeated Justa , killed him and sent his head to Zeno . Terebinthus meanwhile fled to Constantinople , requesting an army garrison to prevent further attacks . According to Procopius , Terebinthus went to Zeno to ask for revenge ; the Emperor personally went to Samaria to quell the rebellion . As a result of the revolt , the Byzantine emperor Zeno erected a church dedicated to Mary on Mount Gerizim . He also forbade the Samaritans to travel to the mountain to celebrate their religious ceremonies , and confiscated their synagogue there . These actions by the emperor fueled Samaritan anger towards the Christians further . Some modern historians believe that the order of the facts preserved by Samaritan sources should be inverted , as the persecution of Zeno was a consequence of the rebellion rather than its cause , and should have happened after 484 , around 489 . Zeno rebuilt the church of St . Procopius in Neapolis ( Sichem ) and the Samaritans were banned from Mount Gerizim , on whose top a signaling tower was built to alert in case of civil unrest . 495 Samaritan unrest . Samaritans rebelled again in 495 under the rule of emperor Anastasius I , reoccupying Mount Gerizim . The Samaritan mob commanded by a Samaritan woman is said to have seized the Church of St . Mary and massacred the garrison . The revolt was subsequently suppressed by the Byzantine governor of Edessa , Procopius , and the Samaritan leaders were slain . Ben Sabar Revolt . Under a charismatic , messianic figure named Julianus ben Sabar ( or ben Sahir ) , the Samaritans launched a war , sometimes related as the final Samaritan revolt , to create their own independent state in 529 . The Samaritan revolt of ben Sabar was perhaps the most violent . According to Byzantine sources , Neapolis ' bishop Ammonas ( also Sammon or Ammon ) was murdered and the city ' s priests were hacked into pieces and then burned together with the relics of saints . The forces of Emperor Justinian I were sent in to quell the revolt , with the help of the Ghassanid Arabs ; tens of thousands of Samaritans died or were enslaved , with their death toll possibly being between 20 , 000 to 100 , 000 . The Samaritan faith was virtually outlawed thereafter by the Christian Byzantine Empire . According to Procopius of Caesarea , the majority of Samaritan peasants chose to be defiant in this revolt , and " were cut to pieces " . Further , Samaria , the " world ' s most fertile land , was left with no one to till it . " 556 Samaritan revolt . Another major revolt erupted in 556 , lasting probably as late as 572 . In this occasion the Jews and the Samaritans seem to have made common cause , beginning their rebellion in Caesarea , early in the month of July . They fell upon the Christians in the city , killing many of them , after which they attacked and plundered the churches . The governor , Stephanus , and his military escort were pressed hard , and eventually the governor was killed , while taking refuge in his own house . Amantius , the governor of the East was ordered to quell the revolt , after the widow of Stephanus reached Constantinopolis The rebellion appears to have spread as far as Bethlehem , where the Church of the Nativity was burned . Despite the Jewish participation , the rebellion however seems to had gathered less support than the revolt of ben Sabar . The sources state that either 100 , 000 or 120 , 000 Samaritans were butchered in the aftermath of the rebellion . Many were tortured and others were driven into exile . However , it might be considered an exaggeration , as the punishment of the Samaritans seems to have been limited to those in the district of Caesarea and they were not yet subdued by Byzantine Emperors . The tensions however , were not over . Emperor Justin II ( r . 565 - 578 ) , complained about " outrages committed by settlement of Samaritans at the foot of Mount Carmel upon the Christian Churches and the holy images " . Aftermath . The Samaritan faith was outlawed and from a population of nearly a million , the Samaritan community dwindled to near extinction . The situation of Samaritans further worsened with the failure of Jewish revolt against Heraclius and slaughter of Jewish population in 629 . Following the Muslim conquest of Syria in 636 , Samaritans suffered the same disabilities as Christians and Jews , but the Arabs included Samaritans within the Muslim definition of " People of the Book " , and protected .