Samaritan, Samaria

The term is best known in English from the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37). The Samaritans were a Jewish sect who lived in the region of Samaria. They had different beliefs to those of mainstream Judaism, including an emphasis on Mount Gerizim as a sacred place, rather than Jerusalem. As such, mainstream Jews would have nothing to do with them. This made the parable of Jesus all the more shocking. In his story, it was an enemy Samaritan, not a mainstream Jew, who proved to be the more charitable.