Antiquities of the Jews, fit the sixteenth, concluding Book XI

XI.8.337 repeats an assertion I previously found in Notita Karaeorum:

And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended.

The Samaritans then try to get Alexander onto their side too (XI.8.342):

Seeing that Alexander had so greatly honoured the Jews, [they] determined to profess themselves Jews; for such is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere declared, that when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are of kin to them, and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive that some good fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to have communion with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive their genealogy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh.

This is typical of Josephus's attitude towards the Samaritans; he repeats this assertion several times. Though it turns out he's got cause for such cattiness: see a future post. After they've got Alexander to promise he will visit their temple when he comes back, like he visited the Jewish one, Josephus says:

And when they petitioned that he would remit the tribute of the seventh year to them, because they did but sow thereon, he asked who they were that made such a petition; and when they said that they were Hebrews, but had the name of Sidonians, living at Shechem, he asked them again whether they were Jews; and when they said they were not Jews, "It was to the Jews," said he, "that I granted that privilege; however, when I return, and am thoroughly informed by you of this matter, I will do what I shall think proper."

Heh. Needless to say, he never came back.

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Josephus notes