Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/566

SAMARITANS. 508 SAMARKAND. Tiberias in 1187. The Jlainclukos of Kg.vpt or- ileicd the Sainaritans to wear red turbans lu laol according to Suyuti and AIFatli, and V il- holni" of Baldi-nsi'l in 13;i(i found such in use. In 15Hi Kaliulus with the rest of Syria passed under TurUisli rule. In answer to letters sent by .Joseph Seali^'er. epistles were forwarded to him in 15!'0 from Samaritans in Gaza and Cairo. Pictro della Valla in KiUi and 1C2.') found Sa- maritans not only at Nal)ulus, but also in Cairo, Uaza. Damascus, and .Jerusalem. In 11)72 Rob- ert IIuntin,;;l(in visited Xabulus, where he found thirtv Samaritan families. As he was able to read 'the Samaritan letters and assured them that there were Israelites in England, he left the impression (hat there were Samaritans in that country. They consequently opened a corre- spondence with the Sons of Israel, the Samaritans in the cities of the Franks, or more particularly "their brethren, descendants of Israel and Sa- maritans living in the city of Oxonia." Thomas Marshall answered these letters on behalf of the brethren in Oxford between 1072 and 1U85. Three letters were also sent to Ludolf (1685- 1C89). Niebuhr found Samaritans at Nabulus, Jaft'a, Jerusalem, and Damascus in 176(5. A letter to Corancez in 1808 states that there were 200 Samaritans in Shechem and Jaffa. A num- ber of letters were written by the Samaritans to Silvestre de Sacy between 1808 and 1826, and during the reign of' Louis Philippe an a])peal was made by them to the French C4overnment. Rob inson visited Nabulus in 1832. Bargfes in 1854, and Petermann in 1872. At present fcAver than 200 persons survive of the Samaritans, all in Nabulus (q.v. ). While the Samaritans have at all times agreed in recognizing the authority of the law only, and in regarding Mount Gerizim as the only legitimate place of worship, they have manifestly changed their opinion on many other questions under the influence of foreign t'liought. Thus there is no reason to doulit the practically unanimous testi- mony of early writers that the Samaritans did not accept the doctrines of a resurrection or the immortality of the soul. But, surrounded as they were by Jews, Christians, and Moham- medans looking forward to a resurrection of the dead, it is not strange that later they should have adopted this belief. It is found in the Carmina Samririfnna, in the Chronicles of Abulfath. and in the letters to European scholars. Since the Sa- maritans rejected the prophetic books and the Psalms in wiiich Jewish exegesis especially found references to the Messiah (q.v.), they coiild not share the hope of a king, a son of I)avid. But Deuteronomy xviii. 18 suggested the coming of a prophet like unto Moses. In the earliest testi- mony to a Samaritan Messiah (.John iv. 25) his character is that of a prophet. In later times the Messiah was called the Ta'eh. or 'The Re- turning One.' It is found in Abulfath. the Songs, and especially in the Gotha Code, 903. Many interpretations of the law, also found among Sadducees and Karaites, have no doubt preserved old traditions. But the limitation of levirate marriage to betrothed vii'gins, the stricter regulations as to intercourse with pregnant women, and the purification of unclean places by fire, seem to point to Indian and Persian in- fluence. The Samaritans of Nabulus go in pil- grimage to Mount Gerizim annually for each of the three great feasts. They offer sacrifice only at the Passover. See Samaria; Shechem; Samaritan Language and Literature; Samar- itan Pentateuch. BiBLiouKAi'HY. Cellarius, Collectanea UistorUn Samurilanw {Giessen, 1088) ; Juynboll, C'om- mcntarii iti Uistoriam Gentis Samarilana; (Ley- den, 1846) ; Knobel, "Zur Geschichte der Samari- taner," in Theoloyische Siudien unci Kritlken (Leipzig, 1840) ; Joseph Grimm, Die Hamuiitrr iitid Hire t^telhing in der Weltgeschlclite (iluuich, 1854) ; Barg&s, Les Samaritains de yaploiise (Paris, 1855) ; Ko-sters, Het Herstel -van Israel in het Perzische tijdvak (Leyden, 1893) ; Mar- quart, Fundamente (Gottingen, 1890) ; Ed. Meyer, Die Entstehung des Judentums (Leipzig, 1890) ; Torrey, The 'Composition of Exra-ehe- miah (Giessen, 1890) ; Cheyne, Jewish Iteligious Life After the Exile (New York, 1899); N. Schmidt, "Nehemiah," in T/ie Biblical World (Chicago, 1899) ; Freudenthal, Alexander Pohj- histor (Breslau, 1875) ; Willrich, Juden und Griechen (Gottingen, 1895); id., Judaica (ib., 1900) ; Biichler, Tohiaden and Oniaden (Vienna, 1899) ; Appel, Questiones de Rehtis Smnaritano- rum suJj linperio Romano Subactis (Leipzig, 1874) ; Schiirer, Geschichte des jiidischen Volkes (3d ed., Leipzig, 1901) ; Hamburger, article "Samaritaner," in Realenexjclopiidie des Juden- tums (Strelitz, 1896) ; Gesenius, De Sama- rilanoriim Theologia (Halle, 1822) ; Wreschner, ffamaritunische Traditionen (Halle, 1888) ; Merx, Ein samaritanisches Fragment iiber den Ta'cb Oder den Uessia» (Leyden, 1893) ; Nutt, Frag- ments of a Samaritan Pentateuch (London, 1874) ; Petermann, Reisen (Leipzig, 1860) : De Sacy, l^otices et extraits des manusci'its dc la bibiiolhique d'l roi (Paris, 1831). SAMARKAND, siim'er-kiind'. A territory in Russian Turkestan, bounded by the Territory of Syr-Darj-a on the north and northeast, by the Ter- ritory of Ferghana on the east, and by Bokhara on the south and west (Map: Persia, L 1). Area, estimated at over 26,000 square miles. The southern part, which belongs to the Pamir Alai mountain system, is exceedingly mountainous and reaches an altitude of over 18,000 feet, with passes above 12,000 feet. Elevations' of 7000 feet are found in the northeast. The northern part of the territory belongs partly to the barren and waterless Famine Steppe and partly to the desert of Kizil-Kiim. The principal river is the Zerafshan, which drains with its numerous tribu- taries the southern part of the territory and feeds the irrigation canals which are so essential to agriculture in Samarkand. The Syr-Darya flows through the northeastern part of the territory. There are also numerous salt lakes, of which Tuz-khan yields large quantities of salt. The climate is hot, dry, and changeable in the lower parts of the territory and severe in the moun- tainous regions. The mean annual temperature at Samarkand, the capital, is about 55° F. The precipitation is very scanty, and malaria is peculiar to some of the valleys, Samarkand is believed to possess great mineral wealth. The agricultural land of Samarkand is found principally in the south, along the Zerafshan and its tributaries. The holdings are small and the price of land very high. There are at present in the territory over 1.000.000 acres of land reached by irrigation, and a considerable propor- tion of it yields two crops a year. The princi pal products are wheat, barley, and other cereals^