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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GinoLR, post: 24608825, member: 128351&quot;]I have just this not very beautiful coin of Elagabalus :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563821[/ATTACH] </p><p>Elagabalus (218-222), Neapolis, AE 22-24 mm, thickness 4.5 mm, 13.30 g.</p><p>Obv.: ΑΥΤ Κ Μ ΑΥΡ Α-ΝΤⲰΝΙΝΟϹ, laureate head of Elagabalus, r. Square countermark A</p><p>Rev.: ΦΛ ΝƐΑϹ ΠΟΛ ϹΥΡ ΠΑΛ, Mount Gerizim surmounted by temple complex connected to the colonnade at the slope by stairways; to r., roadway leading to altar.</p><p><br /></p><p>The temple shown here is the temple of Zeus Hypsistos, &quot;Zeus the Highest&quot;, who was the best Greek equivalent of the Samaritan Yahweh. It was probably built under Hadrian, and probably destroyed when Christianity prevailed in the region. There is an excellent article about this representation of Mount Gerizim on coins :</p><p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259748928_From_mountain_to_icon_Mount_Gerizim_on_Roman_provincial_coins_from_Neapolis_Samaria" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259748928_From_mountain_to_icon_Mount_Gerizim_on_Roman_provincial_coins_from_Neapolis_Samaria" rel="nofollow">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259748928_From_mountain_to_icon_Mount_Gerizim_on_Roman_provincial_coins_from_Neapolis_Samaria</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Among the late 8th c. mosaics of the St. Stephen church in Umm ar-Rasas (Jordan) there is a symbolic image of Neapolis : even if it had been completely destroyed centuries ago, this mosaic may be inspired by an ancient image of the Zeus Hypsistos temple as seen from the last stairs... :</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563823[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Today Mount Gerizim is still a place of worship for the small Samaritan community of Nablus. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1563822[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>While modern Jews follow the religion which was founded in the Iron Age kingdom of Juda around Jerusalem, the Samaritans follow the religion of the rival kingdom of Israel in the North, around Shomron, Samaria. Samaritans have the shortest Bible : they consider the Torah only (the Pentateuch, 5 first books of the Bible) as sacred and God-inspired. </p><p><br /></p><p>Being rivals, following different versions of the Biblical religion, Jews and Samaritans used to hate each other, very much like Sunni and Shiite Muslims since the 8th c., or Catholics and Protestants in 16th c. Europe and still now in North Ireland. When Jesus told his famous parabole of the &quot;Good Samaritan&quot;, the very term was supposed to sound as a provocative oxymoron for a Jewish audience. If he was teaching today in Israel, he would probably call it &quot;the Good Arab&quot;. Even today, the Samaritans living in Nablus consider themselves Palestinians, not Israeli, but those who live in Israel near Tel Aviv have the Israeli nationality.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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