Samaritan Ethnicity in Josephus: Rhetoric and Historicity

Flavius Josephus’ War and Antiquities contain a great deal of texts about the Samaritans, ranging from his narratives about the origin of the community to an account of the destruction of their temple on Mount Gerizim and their fate in the time of the Romans. He gives them different names and sometimes he counts them among the Jews, other times he depicts them as outside the fold. And again at other times he accuses them of opportunistically claiming to belong to the Jewish people when the Jews are prospering but denying any kinship with them when they are in difficulties. We have to ask then: How far is this image of Samaritan ethnicity due to Josephus’ rhetoric and how far does it correspond to historical reality?