Julianus ben Sabar

Julianus ben Sabar (also known as Julian or Julianus ben Sahir) was a messianic leader of the Samaritans.

In 529 Julianus led a revolt against the Byzantine Empire ruled by Justinian I, who had passed legislation outlawing the Samaritan religion. Julianus declared himself "King of Israel", taking Jeroboam as his model, and led a Samaritan army to ravage the cities of Scythopolis, Caesarea Maritima, Neapolis, Bethlehem, and Emmaus.

According to Christian hagiography, under his leadership churches were burned and priests and Byzantine officials tortured and killed. By 530 he had succeeded in capturing virtually all of Samaria. There may have been an attempt by the Samaritans to coordinate their uprising with a Sassanid Persian invasion that never materialized.

Justinian enlisted the help of the Ghassanid philarch Abu Kharab, and by 531 the rebellion had been put down. Julianus himself was killed, and tens (according to some sources, hundreds) of thousands of Samaritans were killed and enslaved. Some were ransomed by Jewish and Samaritan communities throughout the Roman world. Others were sold as far away as Persia, where their descendants would be included in the Persian invasion of the Levant some 85 years later.

Julianus' revolt has been compared to that of Simeon bar Kochba in neighboring Judea.