other way around, possibly to provide an origin explanation for the events narrated in Joshua. When Joshua was old and dying, he gathered the people together at Shechem (present-day Nablus) and gave a farewell speech, and set up "a stone as a witness", placing it "next to the sanctuary of Yahweh, under the oak tree", which indicates that a sanctuary to God existed there. History A Samaritan temple dedicated to Yahweh was built on Mount Gerizim during the 5th century BCE. It existed alongside the Jewish Second Temple in Jerusalem. By that point, the Israelites were divided as "Samaritans" and "Jews", both claiming descendance from the Biblical Israelites and preaching adherence to the Torah, but diverging on the holiest place on Earth to adore God: Mount Gerizim, for the Samaritans, and Jerusalem, for the Jews. An adjacent city was built by the Samaritans during the 3rd century BCE, and became the center for the Samaritan population. Religious rivalry between Samaritans and Jews led to Mount Gerizim being destroyed by the latter in 112-111 BCE, on orders of John Hyrcanus. The date of the Samaritan temple destruction, the 21st of Kislev, became a holiday for the Jews during which it is forbidden to eulogize the dead. Even after the destruction of their temple by the Jews, Mount Gerizim continued to be the holy place for the Samaritans, as mentioned in the New Testament. Coins produced by a Roman mint situated in Nablus, dated to 138–161 CE, seemingly depict the destroyed Samaritan temple, showing a huge temple complex, statues, and a substantive staircase leading from Nablus to the temple itself. In the Book of John in the New Testament, in his discussion with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus reveals his feeling about worshipping in either Mount Gerizim (as the Samaritans did) or Jerusalem (as then did by the Jews): Eventually, when Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire, Samaritans were barred from worshiping on Mount Gerizim. In 475 CE a Christian church was built on its summit. In 529, Justinian I made Samaritanism illegal, and arranged for a protective wall to be constructed around the church. As a result, the same year, Julianus ben Sabar led a pro-Samaritan revolt, and by 530 had captured most of Samaria, destroying churches and killing the priests and officials. However, in 531, after Justinian enlisted the help of Ghassanids, the revolt was