Samaritans praying during Passover
Samaritans are an ethnoreligious group that adhere to a sect of Judaism. The Samaritans are descended from the peoples of Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim who were sent to resettle in Samaria following Shalmaneser V's conquest of Jerusalem in 720 BC, taking possession of Samaria and its cities. By the 1st century AD, they were despised as "unclean" people due to their mixed ancestry and their rejection of temple-based worship. The Samaritans believe that they have maintained the original religion of the Israelites before the Babylonian exile, and they revere Mount Gerizim as the holiest site in Palestine instead of the Jewish holy city of Jerusalem. There are only 777 Samaritans as of 2015, with many converting to Judaism in Israel.