After Felix Portnov/Courtesy the Staff Officer of Archaeology
The Samaritan holy site reached its peak in the Hellenistic period (shown in dark blue), doubling in size and adding new gates, gatehouses, buildings and monumental staircases on the eastern and southwestern sides. The construction of the octagonal Church of Mary Theotokos in the Byzantine period (shown in pale green) effectively destroyed all remains of the Samaritan temple that once stood on the site.