Table Of ContentSTUDIES IN JUDAICA
UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
A Project of The
MANDELBAUM TRUST
Edited by
Alan D. Crown
Raymond Apple
S T U D I E S I N J U D A I C A
Number One
THE
KITIB AL-TAR.Iira OF ABU 'L-FATH
Translated into English
with Notes
by
Paul Stenhouse, M.S.C., Ph.D
Mandelbaum Trust, University of Sydney
1985
Published by
The MandelBaum Trust,
Sydney.
c Paul Stenhouse, M.S.C.
Printed by
Sydney University Press
ISBN No. 0 949269 75 1
All rights reserved
First published, 1985
C O N T E N T S
PREFACE i
ABBREVIATIONS/SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY iii
INTRODUCTION xxiv
Xntroduction 1
Chapte;I='
1 - Chronology from Adam to the disappearance of the
Tabernacle 5
2 Sending of the sp~es and capture of Jericho 8
3 - An Israelite commits sacrilege 13
4 - Joshua offers sacrifice; the neighbouring peoples
play a trick on him ; how Joshua dealt with the
six kings 16
5 - Shaubak and Joshua exchange letters ; Joshua falls
into the trap set by the Sorcerers 20
6 - Joshua appeals for help to Nabih his cousin:
the ensuing battle ; victory for the Israelites 29
7 - Division of land between the tribes ; condition of
the Sons of Israel 32
8 - The kings of the Ra~wan; deaths of Joshua and
Eleazer; the High Priests of the Radwan 41
9 - The>Abisha scroll; disappearance of the
Tabernacle; end of the Ra~wan 44
10 - Eli and Samuel; Saul made king; birth of David;
Saul and Jesse devastate Nablus and oppress the
Samaritans 52
11 - Condition of the survivors under Saul; first
exile (voluntary); names of those who altered
the feasts 56
12 - The events of David's reign ~8
13 - Solomon completes the Temple; list of names of
the 12 leaders of the House of Joseph who dwelt
on Mount Gerizim 62
14 - Events in reign of Rehoboam; Jeroboam and the
Samaritans; factions among the Sons of Israel 66
15 - The so-called prophets; purchase of Sebastia;
list of leaders who left Mount Gerizim after the
death of Tobia
16 - Yumaqim and Nebuchadnezzar; first enforced exile 71
17 - Return from first exile; second enforced exile
under the King of. .G r~e.ce.; .prophecy about c Abdal 78
18 - Return from second exile; correspondence be.tween
cAbpal and .tb,e.Samaritan and .Jewish exiles 79
19 - Debate about the Qibla before Surdi the king 85
20 - Samaritans return and rebu:ild the Temple and al tar;
names of vi-llages and their leaders; Samaritan
secret code; Ezra 93
21 - King : >-Ah.shirus and the Samaritans; Esther and
Yusadag 98
22 - Artaxerxes, ijippocrates, Aaron and the plague that
troubled-the .Persians 101
23 - Darius• s. daughter and the son of.cAmr~~; plot to kill
them and its consequences 103
24 - Simon the Jewish king oppresses the Samaritans;
second exile (voluntary); king•Arquia 106
25 - Sect of the Dustan 109
26 - Alexander the Great; his visit to the Gloom; the
.
Eagle Throne;the liv.i ng statues;Hezeqia•s a~vic~;
.
Alexander's letter; panegyric~ 112
27 - ~ezeqia•s advice to his nephew; Philip"Arr~idaeus_ 124
28 - Debate of _Samaritans.and Jews before Ptolemy 128
29 - Pharisees, Saducees and Hasidim; king .rohn's
argument with the Pharisees 139
30 - Advice of Nathaniel the High_Priest to his mother 143
31 - The Cleopatras; Julius Caesar; Her~d and the wife
of Jacob Ben Levi 144
32 - Jesus·; mission of his disciples; sfsanas king of
Rome rebuilds Caesarea 147
33 _cAmram•s daughter and the two hermits 149
34 - Trick played by the Samaritan brothers; Hadrian•s
siege of Jerusalem; he builds 11Safis11 on Mount
Gerizim 155
35 - Samaritans destroy 11Saffs11; they blame the Jews;
Antoninus Pius; Hadrian•s brass plate in Nablus 159
36 - Claudius Ptolemaeus; Commodus and the debate between
Levi and Alexander of Aphridisias 163
37 - Persecution of commodus 16,
38 - Ardashfr son of Babek; Siyyarus and Alexander, kings
of Rome; Nathaniel father of Baba Rabba 168
39 - Baba Rabba's prayer; address to the Samaritans 173
40 - Baba appoints seven Hukama'; he defines the role of
each one; reaction of the Sabu~af 178
41 - Baba builds a pool, prayer house and eight synagogues;
he distributes the territory among the leaders 182
42 - Baba's wars with the Romans; the battle against
the Ishmaelites 186
43 - Baba's programme; attempt by the Jews to kill him
in the Synagogue 190
44 - The Bird Talisman; Baba's nephew goes to
Constantinople; massacre of the Byzantines; Baba'&
wars 193
45 - Baba enticed to Constantinople; dies there; Levi
his son goes to visit him; Levi dies on his return
to Samaria 202
46 - 'Aqbun the unjust High Priest and his daughter; the
Samaritan woman and Zakus
47 - Germanus the Byzantine official; circumcision of son
of CAqbun 209
48 - Dusfs and Yahdu; he flees to the widow in Shuwaika
and dies; l.evi pursues him is is killed for heresy;
Dusfs•s doctrines 211
49 - Simon Magus and the son of the High Priest; Philo
of Alexandria; the Apostles of Jesus; St Paul and
circumcision 219
50 - The eight sects of ·the·. Samaritans 223
First sect 223
Second sect 223
Third sect 224
Fourth sect 225
Fifth sect. 225
Sixth sect ·22a
Seventh sect 228
Eiglith sect 229·'
51 ~ Marfalfni and the children of Eleazer;· cAqbun
rebuilds· the Synagogue in Nablus and erects the
Andalusian doors·
~2 ~ Conflict between the Sam~ritans and Christians
· over °the·· tomes of the Patriarchs 236
53 ~ Persecut"io·n of the Samaritans under Zeno · 239
54 - The coming· ·of Muhammad;· Jewish, Christian and
Samaritan astrologers; Samaritan covenant with·
Muhammad 242 .
55 ·- List of the Patriarchs and High Priests from Adam
to the time of Muhammad; conclusion 2-46
NOTES i-lxxvii
PREFACE
It is unusual that a work so well known and so important
as the Kitab al-Tarikh of the Samaritan historian
Abu '1-Fath should have remained substantially untranslated
since it first came to the attention of Western historians
in the 17th century.
Apart from a few, passing, references in works by the
Maronite scholar Abraham Ecchellensis in 1653, it was
not until 1691 that a (very brief) summary of its contents
was published by Edward Bernard.
One hµndred years later, Christian Friedrich Schnurrer
published a German translation of some sections, and
within sixteen years the renowned orientalist Silvestre
de Sacy published (in 1806) translations/paraphrases of a
number of short passages.
Edward Vilmar published a further, fuller summary than that
of Bernard, when his edition appeared in 1865. This was
two years after R. Payne-Smith had published a translation
of a small section of the Bodleian text.
More recently, ~ohn Bowman published an English translation
of those sections dealing with the oositheans.
As far as we know, the translation that follows is the
first complete rendering. of the text of Abu '1-Fath's
history of the Samaritans.
We should like to call the attention of the reader to the
~allowing caveats:
* The translation is, as a rule, a literal one. This
seemed best in view of the fact that much of the material
is being presented in translation for the first time. And for
those sections of the text which are better known it was
thought that a literal translation would best enable the
reader to come to grips with the text's complexities.
* The division of the material into Chapters, as well as
everything contained within round brackets, is the work
of the translator, and is not to be attributed to Abu· 11-
Fath.
ii
* For convenience of reference to the Arabic text
we have noted the beginning of each page of our new
edition of the Kitab al-Tarikh at the appropriate place in
the translation.
* For a fuller explanation of abbreviations and references
to MSS found in the Notes to the translation, see our
new edition, Vol.I, Part I, and Chapters I, II and III.
* Wherever possible, we have followed the spelling of
proper names as found in The New English Bible,
Oxford/Cambridge University Press, 1970.
* The "nettle" of the lists of names omitted from Vilmar's
edition of 1865 has been grasped. Wherever possible
these names have been vocalised, but where this proved
difficult, they have simply been transliterated.
* The Notes have been limited to comment that elucidates
the translation. They do not - for reasons of space -
offer much information on or discussion of e.g. many of the
place names met with in the text. Nor is the question of
the Samaritan chronology examined in depth in these notes.
Discussion of the content of the Abu 'l~Fat~ text has, of
necessity, been left for further studies which it is hoped·
will be published separately from this translation. This has·
been done in the conviction that, all too often, comment by
editors or translators has a tendency to take on a definitive
quality in areas which are often, to say the least, open to
debate.
In offering this translation to scholars and to the general
public, we should like to mak~ our own sentiments expressed
by Juynboll when he wrote in 1846, with reference to a trans
lation of Abu '1-Fath by a certain T. Jarret, to the best of
our knowledge never completed:" •.. qua edita de toto Opere
melius judicare possimis."
~ oJ ~ ..;.i... o.J ..;..JI
-Lebanese proverb
Chateau Gombert,
Marseilles, 1981
ABBREVIATIONS/ SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
