Julianus ben Sabar (also known as Julian or Julianus ben Sahir and Latinized as ''Iulianus Sabarides'') was a leader of the Samaritans, seen widely as being the Taheb who led a failed revolt against the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

during the early 6th century. In 529 Julianus led a revolt against the

ruled by

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renova ...

, because of legislation outlawing the Samaritan religion, according to

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, though

Cyril of Scythopolis Cyril of Scythopolis ( gr, Κύριλλος ὁ Σκυθοπολίτης, Kyrillos ho Skythopolitēs; – ), also known as Cyrillus Scythopolitanus, was a Christian monk, priest and Greek-language hagiographer or historian of monastic life in Pa ...

claimed it was because of tension with

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

. Julianus declared himself King of Israel, taking

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern I ...

as his model, and led a Samaritan army to ravage the cities of Scythopolis, Caesarea Maritima, Neapolis,

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, and

Emmaus Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, ''Emmaous''; la, Emmaus; , ''Emmaom''; ar, عمواس, ''ʻImwas'') is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before tw ...

. By 530 he had succeeded in capturing virtually all of

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

. The revolt was marked by large scale slaughter of Christians and destruction of churches. Justinian enlisted the help of the

Ghassanid The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...

s, and by 531 the rebellion had been put down. Julianus himself was beheaded according to

Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking ...

. Tens of thousands of Samaritans were killed and enslaved and many were sold as slaves throughout the Middle East. Others were sold as far away as

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

, where their descendants would be included in the

Persian invasion Persian invasion may refer to: * Persian invasion of Scythia, 513 BC * Greco-Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started ...

of the Levant some eighty-five years later. Julianus' revolt has been comparedTimothy E. Gregory "A History of Byzantium", Volume 2, Blackwell Publishing (2005) p135 to the Bar Kokhba Revolt 400 years prior. Both revolts against foreign imperial occupation led by a self-proclaimed Messiah/Taheb were initially successful, only to be later brutally quashed. However, unlike the Jews, the Samaritan community never recovered from their ethnic cleansing, and were further reduced to a minority in Samaria after persecutions in the late Middle Ages by the Mamluks.

References

Medieval Samaritan people 6th-century Byzantine people Byzantine rebels People executed by decapitation Executed Byzantine people Kings of ancient Israel 6th-century monarchs in the Middle East 6th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire Year of birth unknown {{MEast-bio-stub