Who were the Samaritans and what did the people of Judah thin?

The Samaritans were an ethnoreligious group that emerged in ancient Israel, primarily in the region of Samaria, following the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century BCE. They practiced a form of worship that included a version of the Torah and claimed descent from the Israelites who were not exiled. The people of Judah, particularly those from the southern kingdom, viewed the Samaritans with suspicion and disdain, considering them heretical due to their differing religious practices and beliefs, which contributed to longstanding hostilities between the two groups.