SAMARIA, KINGDOM AND PROVINCE OF. The political history of the kingdom of which Samaria was the capital has been given under the word ISRAEL. is intended in this article briefly to explain the geographical meaning attached to the tenn Samaria by some of the sacred writers, as well in the O. T. as in the N. T.
'The cities of Samaria' are mentioned in such a way in Kings xiii. 32 as shatvs that the kingdom of Israel, including the whole country over which Jeroboam ruled, was meant. It then embraced the territories of all the tribes except Benjamin, Judah, Simeon, and that portion of Dan which had originally been allotted to Judah. Conse quently Samaria, as a geographical term, was at that time applied to the whole of Palestine east of the Jordan, and to all west of that river and north of the parallel of Bethel. In this sense it is used by Hosea—' Thy calf, 0 Samaria, hath cast thee off ;' alluding to the images which Jeroboam had set up at Dan and Bethel, on the northern and southern extremities of his kingdom. In like manner, Amos speaks of the mountains of Sa maria' (iii. 9 ; cf. iv. I).
The name was borrowed from the capital city ; and the country embraced under it became more and more limited in extent, as section after section was lopped off' Jeroboam's old kingdom. The territory beyond Jordan' was invaded first by Pul, and thirty years later by Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria, and the Israelites taken captive. The country beyond Jordan was thus taken from under the jurisdiction of Samaria, and was no more called by its name (1 Chron. v. 26 ; cf. 2 Kings xv. 19, 29). It received the distinctive appellation Peraa. Tiglath- pileser also invaded northem Palestine, captured the province of Galilee, and removed its old inhabitants to Assyria (2 Kings xv. 20. This section was then cut off from the kingdom of Israel, and no longer bore the name Samaria. This name was thus confined, after the conquests of Tiglath pileser, to the central portion of Palestine lying between Judah and Galilee (B.c. 738).
On the capture of the city of Samaria, and the final overthrow of the kingdom of Israel by Shal maneser (B. c. 72i), the Jews were removed, and !bangers were brought from Assyria and placed in the cities of Samaria' (z Kings xvii. 24; cE Ezra iv. To). These colonists took the narne of their new country, and were thenceforth called SAMARITANS. Instead of a kingdom, Samaria now became a province. Its extent cannot be exactly ascertained. The political geography of
Palestine was undergoing changes every year, in consequence of incessant wars and conquests ; and it was not until the period of Roman dominion that the boundaries of provinces began to be accu rately defined.
To distinguish the province from the city, the former is called in the apocryphal writings and in Josephus Zapaperts, and also 2.:am,apts and Xiapa Zagapieuv. Josephus describes the province as follows The district of Samaria lies between Judma and Galilee. Commencing at a village called Ginma, situated in the Great Plain, it termi nates at the territory of the Acrabatenes. In its natural characteristics it differs in no respect from Judma, hills and plains being interspersed through both—the soil, moreover, being arable and ex tremely fertile, richly wooded and amply supplied with fruits both wild and cultivated' (Bell. yint: iii. 3. 4). Gin= is identical with the modern Jentn, on the southern side of the plain of Esdraelon. It is evident, therefore, that the northern border of Samaria ran along the foot of the mountain-range, beginning at the promontory of Carmel on the west, and terminating at the Jordan, near the site of Succoth. Its southern border would probably correspond pretty nearly to a line drawn from Joppa eastward through Bethel to the Jordan (see Reland, Pal. p. 192). The geographical position of the province is several times incidentally men tioned in the N. T. Thus in Luke xvii. it is stated that our Lord, in proceeding to Jerusalem from Northern Palestine, passed through the midst of Samaria ;' and again, when he left Judma and went to Galilee, St. John says, He must needs go through Samaria' (iv. 4). And so, when Paul and Bamabas were sent on a special mission from Antioch to Jerusalem, they passed through Phenice and Samaria' (Acts xv. 3). They followed the road along the sea-coast, doubtless calling at the great cities of Sidon, Tyre, and Cmsarea.
After the tune of Roman rule in Syria, the name of Samaria as a province appears to have passed away. It is used by Pliny and Ptolemy, and is mentioned by Jerome. It is not found, however, in the Natitia Ecclesiastica,, nor in any later work ; and it is now wholly unknown to the natives of the country. The name of the ancient city has even given place to the Arabo-Greek Sebustieh.
See for fuller information on physical geo,graphy, history, and topography, the article PALESTINE. J. L. P.