150-50 BCE, and perhaps slightly earlier, provide the "oldest known self-designation" for Samaritans, indicating that they called themselves "Israelites". Strictly speaking, the Samaritans now refer to themselves generally as "Israelite Samaritans." In their own language the Samaritans call themselves Shamerim (שַמֶרִים), meaning "Guardians/Keepers/Watchers", and in Arabic (). The term is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew term Šomerim, and both terms reflect a Semitic root שמר, which means "to watch, guard". Historically, Samaritans were concentrated in Samaria. In Modern Hebrew, the Samaritans are called Shomronim {שומרונים}, which also means "inhabitants of Samaria", literally, "Samaritans". That the meaning of their name signifies Guardians/Keepers/Watchers [of the Law/Torah], rather than being a toponym referring to the inhabitants of the region of Samaria, was remarked on by a number of Christian Church fathers, including Epiphanius of Salamis in the Panarion, Jerome and Eusebius in the Chronicon and Origen in The Commentary on Saint John's Gospel. Josephus uses several terms for the Samaritans, which he appears to use interchangeably. Among them is reference to Khuthaioi, a designation employed to denote peoples in Media and Persian putatively sent to Samaria to replace the exiled Israelite population. These Khouthaioi were in fact Hellenistic Phoenicians/Sidonians. Samareis (Σαμαρεῖς) may refer to inhabitants of the region of Samaria, or of the city of that name, though some texts use it to refer specifically to Samaritans. Origins The similarities between Samaritans and Jews was such that the rabbis of the Mishnah found it impossible to draw a clear distinction between the two groups. Attempts to date when the schism among Israelites took place, which engendered the division between Samaritans and Judaeans, vary greatly, from the time of Ezra down to the destruction of Jerusalem (70 CE) and the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE). The emergence of a distinctive Samaritan identity, the outcome of a mutual estrangement between them and Jews, was something that developed over several centuries. Generally, a decisive rupture is believed to have taken place in the Hasmonean period. Ancestrally, Samaritans affirm that they descend from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in ancient Samaria. Samaritan tradition associates the split between them and the Judean-led Southern Israelites to the time of the biblical priest Eli, described as a "false" high priest who usurped the priestly office from its occupant, Uzzi, and established a rival shrine at Shiloh, and thereby prevented southern pilgrims from Judah and the territory of Benjamin from