Samson, Shimshon (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Standard Šimšon Tiberian Šimšôn; meaning "of the sun" – perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty, or "[One who] Serves [God]") or Shama'un (Arabic) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. He is described in the Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16.
Interestingly, while there are many common prophets in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic discourse, stories about Samson are absent in narratives from the Quran. Samson is something of a Herculean figure, using massive strength to combat his enemies and to perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary men: wrestling a lion, slaying an entire army with nothing more than a donkey's jawbone, and tearing down an entire building. He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30.

Biblical narrative
Rabbinical literature identifies Samson with Bedan; Bedan was a Judge mentioned by Samuel in his farewell address (1 Samuel 12:11) among the Judges that delivered Israel from their enemies. However, the name "Bedan" is not found in the Book of Judges. The name "Samson" is derived from shemesh (= "sun"), so that Samson bore the name of God, who is also "a sun and shield" (Psalms 84:12). As God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God. Samson's strength was divinely derived (Talmud, Tractate Sotah 10a]). Samson resembled God in requiring neither aid nor help (Midrash Genesis Rabbah xcviii. 18).
Jewish legend records that Samson's shoulders were sixty ells broad. He was lame in both feet (Talmud Sotah 10a), but when the spirit of God came upon him he could step with one stride from Zorah to Eshtaol, while the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance (Midrash Lev. Rabbah viii. 2). Samson was said to be so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth (ibid.; Sotah 9b), yet his superhuman strength, like Goliath's, brought woe upon its possessor (Midrash Eccl. Rabbah i., end).
In licentiousness he is compared with Amnon and Zimri, both of whom were punished for their sins (Lev. R. xxiii. 9). Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often (Sotah l.c.). It is said that in the twenty years during which Samson judged Israel he never required the least service from an Israelite (Midrash Numbers Rabbah ix. 25), and he piously refrained from taking the name of God in vain. Therefore, as soon as he told Delilah that he was a Nazarite of God she immediately knew that he had spoken the truth (Sotah l.c.). When he pulled down the temple of Dagon and killed himself and the Philistines the structure fell backward, so that he was not crushed, his family being thus enabled to find his body and to bury it in the tomb of his father (Midrash Gen. Rabbah l.c. § 19). In the Talmudic period many seem to have denied that Samson was a historic figure; he was apparently regarded as a purely mythological personage. This was viewed as heretical by the rabbis of the Talmud, and they refuted this view. Nevertheless, his ultimate loss of strength- being tamed by the wit of a woman (Delilah) is somewhat similar to stories such as Beauty and the Beast- albeit with the woman appearing as more of the villain in this story.

In rabbinic literature

In contemporary Biblical criticism
According to the documentary hypothesis, the first verse of the Samson story is an addition by the composer of the D source in the 7th century BCE. The original Samson story didn't include this verse.
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. Judges 13:1
The original story portrays Samson's mission as beginning the liberation of the Israelites (Judges 13:5). The Lord uses Samson to strike at the Philistines. But the prologue says that the Philistines were doing the will of the LORD. This verse reflects the characteristic Israelite concept that the nation's victories and defeats were both by the will of the Lord.

Deuteronomist's prologue

Literature
Handel wrote his oratorio Samson in 1743. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote an opera, Samson et Dalila between 1868 and 1877.
In 1977, Joseph Horovitz wrote Samson for baritone, mixed choir and brass band

Classical Music
Quirky annual parades of a Samson figure in 10 different villages in the Lungau, Salzburg (state) and two villages in the north-west Steiermark (Austria). For more information see Wikipedia in German de:Samson (Riese)
Samson is one of the giant figures at the "Ducasse" festivities, which takes place at Ath, Belgium.

Samson parades
Samson has been a popular subject for paintings:
Anonymous:

Alexander Anderson, Samson Fighting the Lion, ca. 1800 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Jean Audran, after F. Verdier, The Burial of Samson, ca. 1700 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino), Samson and the Honeycomb, ca. 1657 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Niccolu Boldrini, after Titian, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1540-1545, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Boucicaut Master, Samson and the Lion, 1415, Getty Museum
Hans Burgkmair the Elder, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1500 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Lovis Corinth, Samson Blinded, 1912
Giuseppe Caletti (Il Cremonese), Samson and Delilah, ca. 1625 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Lucas Cranach the Elder, Samson and Delilah, 1529

• Samson's Fight with the Lion, 1520-25
  Salomon de Bray, Samson with the Jawbone, 1636 Getty Museum
  Gerard de Jode, Samson Tying the Firebrands to the Foxes' Tails, ca. 1550 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
  Etienne Delaune, Samson Setting Fire to the Wheat of the Philistines, ca. 1575 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
  H.B. (John Doyle), Samson and Delilah, ca. 1800 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
  Gustave Doré, Death of Samson, 1865
  
  
  
  • Samson and Delilah, 1865
    Samson Carrying Away the Gates of Gaza, 1865
    Samson Destroying the Philistines, 1865
    Samson Destroys the Temple, 1866
    Samson Fighting with the Lion, ca. 1496
    Samson Slaying a Lion, 1865
    Albrecht Dürer, Delilah Cuts Samson's Hair, 1493
    Josephus Farmer, Samson, 1982, Smithsonian American Art Museum
    Philip Galle, Samson Fighting the Lion, ca. 1600 Lutheran Brotherhood's Collection of Religious Art
    Luca Giordano, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1675 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
    Guercino, Samson Captured by the Philistines
    Reinhold Hoberg, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1900 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
    Lord Frederic Leighton, Illustrations for Dalziel's Bible Gallery, 1881, Tate Gallery:
    
    
    
    • Samson and the Lion
      Samson Carrying the Gates
      Samson at the Mill
      Andrea Mantegna, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1500
      Jacob Matham after Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah, 1613
      Matthaeus Merian the Elder, 1625-30, Samson and Delilah
      
      
      
      • Samson and the Gates
        Samson's Strange Weapon
        Samson Slays a Lion
        Michelangelo, Samson and Two Philistines, ca. 1530-50
        Aureliano Milani, Samson Slaying the Philistines, 1720 National Gallery, Canada
        Erasmus Quellinus, Samson Killing the Lion, ca. 1650 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
        Archie Rand, Samson, contemporary Bernice Steinbaum Gallery
        Guido Reni, The Triumph of Samson, 1611-12
        Rembrandt van Rijn, The Blinding of Samson, 1636
        
        
        
        • Delilah Calls the Philistines, ca. 1655
          The Sacrifice of Menoah, 1641
          Samson Accusing His Father-In-Law, 1635
          Samson Betrayed by Delilah, 1629-30
          Samson Putting Forth His Riddles at the Wedding Feast, 1638
          Kirk Richards, Delilah, 1997
          Paul Roorda, Samson, contemporary
          Peter Paul Rubens, The Death of Samson, ca. 1605 Getty Museum
          
          
          
          • Samson is Seized, 1609-10
            Jacob Savery I, Samson Wrestling with the Lion, (after), ca. 1595 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
            Hans Leonhard Schaufelein, Samson Destroying the Temple, Fifteenth to Sixteenth centuries Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
            Solomon Joseph Solomon, Samson and Delilah, 1887 Walker Art Gallery
            Jan Steen, Samson and Delilah, 1667-70
            Matthias Stom, Samson and Delilah, 1630s
            James Tissot, 1896-1900. Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Samson Breaks His Cords
            
            
            
            • Samson Kills a Young Lion
              Samson Puts Down the Pillars
              Samson Slays a Thousand Men
              Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1851-60' World Mission Collection, The Death of Samson
              
              
              
              • Samson Kills the Lion
                Samson Kills the Philistines
                Samson is Seized
                Christiaen vanCouwenbergh, The Capture of Samson, 1630
                Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Samson and Delilah, 1620
                Gerrit van Honthorst, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1615
                Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, Samson and the Lion, ca. 1475 National Gallery of Art
                Frans van den Wyngaerde, Samson Killing the Lion, ca. 1650 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
                Claes Jansz Visscher the Elder, Delilah Cutting Samson's Hair, ca. 1610. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
                Les Drysdale, Samson, contemporary
                Samson Destroying the Pillars of the Philistine Temple, ca. 1600 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
                Display Cabinet (with figure of Delilah cutting Samson's Hair), 1620s Getty Museum.
                The Women at the Tomb (with scene from Samson and the Lion), Unknown German, c. 1170s. Getty Museum
                Samson Destroys the Temple, Unknown German Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco Art
                Samson is believed to be buried in Tel Tzora in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoach. Nearby stands Manoach's altar(Judges 13:19-24).
                
                Samson's burial site
                
                Film
                The Grateful Dead played the song "Samson & Delilah" from the mid-1970s and throughout their career. The song is a traditional song, cataloged by Alan Lomax in his encyclopedic "Folk Songs of North America" which Bob Weir learned from Reverend Gary Davis. The lyrics cover some parts of the history around Samson, notably his fight with the lion.
                Regina Spektor has a song called "Samson" based on Samson and Delilah.
                The Pixies' song "Gouge Away" is based on Samson's story.
                Leonard Cohen wrote the song "Hallelujah" which makes references to Samson and Delilah.
                The Cranberries have a song called "Delilah" written from the perspective of a woman fighting off a conniving temptress.
                Mandy Moore and Jonathon Foreman (from Switchfoot) have a song called "Someday We'll Know" for the movie A Walk To Remember with references to Samson and Delilah in the chorus.
                Bishop Allen released a song called "Empire City" that references Samson with the lines: "Samson suffered the same fame fate, powerless and losing his hair."