SAMARIA (Heb. Šōmērōn) Ass. - City founded in 880 B.C. by Omri (v. AMRI), sixth king of Israel, at the center of his kingdom, on the top of a hill (443 m above sea level), bought for two talents of silver from a certain Somer (1 Kings 16:24); the present-day Arab village of Sebastijjeh, 10 km northwest of Nābulus, occupies its ancient site.
The choice of the site was excellent (Isa. 28:1), at the crossroads of the main communication routes, with the possibility of fortifying its flanks well.
The archaeological excavations, undertaken partially in 1908-10 and 1931-35, have brought to light the historical vicissitudes of the city of Omri (880-721 B.C.), of Sargon (721-331 B.C.), of Alexander the Great (331-323 B.C.) and of Herod the Great (30 B.C.).
Omri, having leveled the western side of the summit, then unoccupied, but which the archaeological finds show was used by a Canaanite settlement in the 3rd millennium B.C., built the royal palace, enlarged and embellished by Ahab and then by Jeroboam II. Under Ahab the citadel with the palace and the temple was enclosed by a double parallel wall, interspersed with chambers, and to the southwest a watchtower was erected, from which perhaps the name Šōmērōn ("guardian") derived. In the southern part of the great western courtyard of the palace, in the ruins of a large building, 75 ostraca were found, written in archaic Hebrew, with black ink by means of a reed, which marked the jars of oil or wine in the royal storehouses. In them are recorded 22 names of villages in the territory of Manasseh and the names of the royal stewards, and the element Ba'al is frequent, which confirms the biblical data concerning the religious conditions of the Kingdom of Israel after Omri (1 Kings 16:31-33; 2 Kings 10:18). In the northwest corner of the citadel, a large basin (10 x 5 m), partly hewn in the rock but entirely cemented, perhaps represents
"the pool of Samaria" (1 Kings 22:38) in which Ahab's chariot was washed after the fatal battle of Ramoth in Gilead. In 1932, among the ruins of the citadel, a rich collection of ivories was discovered, about 200 pieces, some of which were inlaid with lapis lazuli or other colored substances and covered with gold leaf, and all delicately decorated with mixed subjects of Egyptian or Oriental motifs, dating back to the 9th century (1 Kings 22:39). Amos (3:15) deplored their excessive luxury.
Besides in architecture, Phoenician influence left a deep mark on the religious sentiments of the population. Ahab (v.), having married Jezebel (v.), daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, ended by making public in the capital the cult of Baal Melqart, worshiped at Sidon. Near the palace he erected the temple, served by Phoenician priests, maintained by the public treasury, where he placed a maṣṣēbhāh in honor of Baal and an 'aṭērāh for his consort Astarte (v.), who was widely honored among the population, as the amulets with the figure of the goddess indicate. Against the invading polytheism, the prophets Elijah (v.) and Elisha (v.) courageously inveighed. Jehu reacted violently, had the priests killed, burned the maṣṣēbhāh of Baal, and, having demolished the temple, turned it into an unclean and impure place; perhaps for this reason no trace of it has been found (1 Kings 16:23; 2 Kings 3:2; 10:18-27). Nor has the site of the royal necropolis (1 Kings 16:28; 22:37; 2 Kings 13:9; 14:16) been traced so far; however, the excavations were carried out mainly at the citadel.
Strongly fortified, the city resisted the serious attacks of the Syrians of Damascus (1 Kings 20:1, 13, 21) and for three years withstood the siege of the Assyrian Shalmaneser V, until in 721 Sargon captured it, deporting its inhabitants to Assyria and replacing them with peoples of different stock, who intermingled with the few remaining Israelites, forming the hybrid race of the Samaritans (v.). From the destruction of 721 to the times of Alexander the Great little is known: a letter in Neo-Babylonian addressed to Abi-Ahi, governor of Samarina, and many potsherds attributed to the Assyro-Babylonian and Persian era attest the two foreign administrations.
In 331 S. first submitted, then attempted to rebel against Alexander the Great, who dismantled it and imported a colony of 6,000 Macedonians. Renewed by the Macedonian Perdiccas, again ruined by Ptolemy I and then by Demetrius Poliorcetes, it had a period of prosperity; around 108 B.C. it was taken and destroyed, though not annihilated, by John Hyrcanus. A fine round tower with sections of wall, numerous fragments of Rhodian-type jars, coins and inscriptions (among them a votive stele with a Greek inscription of Hegesander with his wife Xenachis and children, to Serapis and Isis) indicate the Hellenistic-pagan rebirth of the city. In 63 B.C., occupied and rebuilt by Pompey the Great, it was then even more fortified by the governor Gabinius in 57 B.C., so much so that the citizens were called "Gabiniani."
In 30 B.C. the emperor Augustus ceded it to Herod the Great, who completely transformed it and in 27 called it Sebaste, from the name of his protector Augustus, repopulating it with Roman colonists and merchants.
A vast circuit of walls, furnished with towers, was created on the flanks of the hill, extending north to the valley floor, where the stadium was, and to the northeast in the site of the present village of Sebastijjeh. A monumental gate, flanked by two circular towers, led into the colonnaded street, about 1,700 m long. Above the ruins of the royal palace of Ahab and Omri and perhaps of the temple of Baal, a solemn stairway led to a vast terrace, on which stood the Augusteum, an apsidal building, with porticoes, with the altar and the statue of Augustus. Further north was the temple dedicated to the goddess Kore, whose statue was found in a cistern; in the temple two stones were discovered with the symbols in relief of two oval helmets, wreathed with laurel and surmounted by a star, symbol of the Dioscuri, worshiped in the pantheon of S. Even today the ruins of the stadium, the theater, forum, basilica, mausoleums and aqueducts can be recognized. The city supplied Herod and then the Roman governors with five cohorts of Sebastiani, in the time of Claudius (42-54 A.D.) also with a squadron of cavalry.
In S., Christianity was introduced by the deacon Philip, who met Simon Magus there (Acts 8:9-14). During the troubles of 64 the soldiers greatly maltreated the Jews, who took terrible revenge in 66, burning the city.
After 70 Vespasian removed the troops from it. In 196 Septimius Severus imported a new population and granted it colonial rights, with the title of Colonia Lucia Septimia Sebaste, and restored the walls, public buildings, theater and forum; but the city was losing its importance with the growth of nearby Neapolis (v. NA-
(from Palestine exploration quarterly, 1931, inv. 1, fig. 1)
SAMARIA - Israelite wall.
PLUSA). In the 4th century it was reduced to a "small city" with a Christian community (the bishop Marinus attended the Council of Nicaea), which possessed the tombs of St. John the Baptist and of the prophets Elisha and Obadiah. In the time of Julian the Apostate (361-63) the ashes were scattered to the wind, but the Christians continued to venerate the tombs (St. Jerome, Ep., 68, 12; 108, 13; PL 2a, 491, 889), which were included in a basilica, destroyed in 614 by the Persians, then rebuilt by the Crusaders, who placed there a Latin bishop and a viscount as governor. The Cathedral was in 1187, when Palestine was taken by Saladin, transformed into a mosque, and to the names of the venerated tombs was added that of the prophet Zechariah. There remain the facade, stretches of wall, pillars and clusters of columns; the presbytery and the apse form the new mosque of Nebi Jahjâ.
In 1932 on the summit of the hill were found the remains of a church erected on the site of the first discovery of the head of the Baptist; the itineraries of the 13th century mention it; it seems to date back to the 5th century. In a side grotto one can still see the frescoes with scenes of the beheading of St. John.
Bibliography3 works
Donato Baldi