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Who Were They?
In the New Testament the Samaritans were considered inhabitants of the
district of Samaria. (see Map). They descended from the exchange of population effected by the Assyrians
after their conquest of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. Pursuing their policy of
transferring conquered peoples, the Assyrians deported many of the original
inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom and replaced them with a mixture of people
from the east: from Babylon, Avva, Hamath, Sepharvaim and Cuth (deriving from the
latter, the Samaritans are often referred to in rabbinic literature as Cuthim).
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