The post-exilic inhabitants of Samaria are, according to Jewish tradition, allegedly colonists introduced after the Assyrian conquest who have adopted a distorted form of Judaism.

Other Hebrew-speakers call them simply Shomronim (Samaritans); in the Talmud (rabbinical compendium of law, lore, and commentary), they are called Kutim, suggesting that they are rather descendants of Mesopotamian Cuthaeans, who settled in Samaria after the Assyrian conquest.

The Samaritans themselves claim to be related by blood to those Israelites of ancient Samaria who were not deported by the Assyrian conquerors of the kingdom of Israel in 722.

Claiming descent from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and maintaining that they have preserved the way and will of Yahweh, they call themselves Bene-Yisrael (”Children of Israel”), or Shamerim (”Observant Ones”), for their sole norm of religious observance is the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament).

The Samarians honor Moses as the only prophet.

It is likely that the Samaritans are a Judaized mixture of native north Israelites and Gentile deportees settled by the Assyrians in the erstwhile northern kingdom.