SAMARIA ai-oo, watch-height ; Za,ucipeta), . .
a city, situated near the middle of Palestine, built by 01111-1, king of Israel, on a mountain or hill of the same name, about B.C. 925. It was the metro polis of the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes. The hill was purchased from the owner, Shemer, from whom the city took its name (1 Kin,s xvi. 23, 24). The site of the capital was there6fore a chosen one ; and all travellers agree that it would be difficult to find in the whole land a situation of equal strength, fertility, and beauty combined. 'In all these particulars,' says Dr. Robinson, cit has greatly the advantage over Jerusalem ' (Bibl. Researches, iii. 146). Samaria continued to be the capital of Israel for two centuries, till the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, about B. C. 720 (2 Kings xvii. 3, 5). Durin,, all this time it was the seat of idolatry, and is o'ften as such de nounced by the prophets, sometimes in connection `with Jerusalem. It was the seat of a temple of Baal, built by Ahab, and destroyed by Jelin (r Kings xvi. 32, 33 ; 2 Kings x. 18-28.). It was the scene of many of the acts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, connected with the various families of the land, the unexpected plenty of Samaria, and the several deliverances of the city from the Syrians. After the exile of the ten tribes, Samaria appears to have continued, for a time at least, the chief city- of the foreigners brought to occupy their place, although Shechem soon became the capital of the Samaritans as a religious sect. John Hyrcanus took the city after a year's siege, and razed it to the ground (Joseph. Antiq. xiii. io. 3; De Bell. yud. i. 2. 7). Yet it must soon have revived, as it is not long after mentioned as an inhabited place in the possession of the Jews. Pompey restored it to its former possessors ; and it was afterwards re built 'Sy Gabinius (Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 5. 4 ; xiv. 4. 4 ; 5- 3)• Augustus bestowed Samaria on Herod - who eventually rebuilt the city with great magnidcence, and gave it the name of Sebaste (which is the Greek translation of the Latin name or epithet Aug-ustus), in honour of that emperor (Antiq. xv. 7. 3 ; De Bell. Yud. xv. 7. 7 ; xv. 8.
5). Here Herod planted a colony of 6000 per sons, composed partly of veteran soldiers, and partly of people from the environs ; enlarged the circumference of the city ; and surrounded it with a strong wall twenty stades in circuit. In the midst of the city—that is to say, upon the summit of the hill—he left a sacred place of a stade and a half, splendidly decorated, and here he erected a. temple to Augustus, celebrated for its magnitude and beauty. The whole city was greatly orna mented, and became a strong fortress (Joseph. Antig. xv. 8. 5; De Bell. Yud. i. 21. 2 ; Strabo, XVi. 2. 13).
Such was the Somalia of the time of the N. T., where the gospel was preached by Philip, and a church was gathered by the apostles (Acts viii. 5, 9, seq.) Nothing is known of Sebaste in the fol lowing centuries, except from the coins, of which there are several, extending from Nero to Geta (Eckhel, 4.4o ; Mionnet, "hdlg. v. 513). Septimius Severus appears to have established there a Roman colony in the beginning of the 3c1 century (Cellarius, Not. Orb. ii. 432). Eusebius scarcely mentions the city as extant ; but it is often named by Jerome and other writers of the same and a later age (adduced in Relami's .PaZartina, pp. 979-981). Samaria was early an episcopal see. Its bishop, Marius, or Marinus, was present at the council of Nice in A.D. 325 ; and Pelagius, the last of six others whose names are preserved, attended the council of Jerusalem in A.D. 536. The city, along with Nabulus, fell into the power of the Moslems during the siege of Jerusalem; and we hear but little more of it till the time of the Crusades. At what time the city of Herod became desolate no existing accounts state ; but all the notices of the 4th century and later lead to the in ference that its destruction had already taken place.