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As Samu or es-Samu () () is a town in the Hebron Governorate of the West Bank, Palestine, 12 kilometers south of the city of Hebron and 60 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem. The town had a population of 26,011 in 2017.
As-Samu' is located on a tell identified with the ancient Jewish town of Eshtemoa, from which it derives its name. The town is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Onomasticon, and the Jerusalem Talmud. Archaeological discoveries include a silver hoard with Hebrew language inscriptions, a Jewish burial cave, and the 4th-century Eshtemoa synagogue, later converted into a mosque.
Initially a small village in the early Ottoman Empire era, as-Samu' gradually grew into a larger settlement over the years. In 1966, it was the site of the Samu incident. Since the 1990s, as-Samu' has been governed by the Palestinian Authority as part of Area A. It is known for its handwoven .
In 1971, five pottery jars dated to the 9th-8th centuries BCE were found in as-Samu', bearing inscriptions written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. These jars contained one of the largest silver hoards ever found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.Yeivin, Z., (1990). The silver hoard from Eshtemoa.
In the late 19th century, a number of explorers visited the village and documented carved architectural elements scattered within it. These elements were Spolia into the walls of the village houses, with some reportedly adorned with a menorah and Jewish inscriptions.
A distinctive Jewish burial cave from the second and third centuries CE was discovered at as-Samu'. It features an elliptical layout along with collection pits and storage chambers integrated into its walls. Inside, twelve intact Ossuary were found alongside fragments of others. Some ossuaries, crafted from soft , are typical of the Late Second Temple Period. The other ossuaries belong to the Late style, used by Jews during the Syria Palaestina.Liebowitz, H. (1981). Jewish Burial Practices in the Roman Period. Mankind Quarterly, 22(1)
In 1934, the remains of an ancient Jewish synagogue, now known as the Eshtemoa synagogue, were unearthed at as-Samu'. The synagogue is dated to around the 4th–5th century CE. Four seven-branched menorahs were discovered carved onto door lintels and one of them is displayed in Jerusalem's Rockefeller Museum., an ancient Jewish synagogue found at as-Samu' and dated to the 4th–5th century CE]]
What was earlier identified to be part of a 12th-century Crusaders tower, turned out to be a 4th-century synagogue, which was turned into a mosque at the time of Saladin, according to tradition.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, pp. 412–413Pringle, 1997, p. 118
In the daftar of 1596 the village appeared as being in the Nahiya of Al-Khalil of the Liwa of Jerusalem. It had a population of 16 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, vineyards and fruit trees, in addition to occasional revenues, goats and bee-hives; a total of 3000 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 123
In 1838, Edward Robinson identified the town of Semua with biblical Eshtemoa.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, p. 194 He described As-Samu as a "considerable" village..."full of flocks and herds all in fine order". He also found remains of walls built from very large stones, some of which were more than 10 feet long.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 2, pp. 626–7 In 1863 the French explorer Victor Guérin visited the place.Guérin, 1869, pp. 173 –176, 196
An Ottoman village list from about 1870 found that as-Samu had a population of 298, in 77 houses, though the population count included men, only.Socin, 1879, p. 154Hartmann, 1883, p. 142, also noted 77 houses
In 1883, the Palestine Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine described it as "A village of moderate size, standing high. On the north is an open valley, and the modern buildings extend along a spur which runs out west from the watershed. The ground is rocky on the hills, but the valleys are arable land. There are remains of an ancient castle in the village, and other fragments. A church is said once to have existed here, and the ruins to the west show that the town was once much larger. To the south there are olives in the valley. To the north there are rock-cut tombs on the hill-side; the water-supply is from . The inhabitants number some 400 to 500 souls.Conder and Kitchener, 1883, SWP III, p. 403
In the 1945 statistics the population of as-Samu' was 2,520, all Muslims,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 23 who owned 138,872 of land according to an official land and population survey.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 50 30 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 40,398 for cereals,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 94 while 165 dunams were built-up (urban) land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 144
It was reported in 2005 that 10,000 Dunam of land in the towns of 'as-Samu, Yatta and ad-Dhahiriya near Hebron were to be seized by the Israel Defense Forces for the construction of the separation wall. UN Doc Chronological Review of Events Relating to the Question of Palestine; Monthly Media Monitoring Review March 2005 Palestinian sources have alleged that settler violence from the nearby Israeli settlements of Ma'on and Asa'el has prevented them from accessing their fields. 14 May: Farmers and shepherds from Yatta and As Samu towns were denied access to their land by settlers from Ma'on settlement. Relief web. According to Palestinian sources, a 30-year-old Palestinian man from the town of As-Samu' sustained multiple bodily injuries when a group of settlers beat him and dragged him to the nearby settlement outpost of Asael. The settlers then tied him to an electricity pole where the assault continued.
As-Samu' is also known for its handwoven . Samou'a Kilims , by Hamdan Taha
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