ABSTRACT
The legend of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel is one of the most fascinating in Jewish lore. In 722 B.C. the king of Assyria conquered the northern Israelite kingdom of Samaria (also called Israel or Ephraim), which was inhabited by ten tribes. After capturing Samaria, according to the Bible: ‘He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozan, and in the towns of Media.’ Modern Jews, the descendants of the southern Israelite kingdom of Judah, have always entertained the hope that somewhere, sometime, their long-lost brethren would be found and that the discovery would herald the arrival of the Messiah.
