Biblical Geography

Samaria

Region and city · Old and New Testament · Sebastia

Scripture first

1 Kings 16:24 · WEBU

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Omri buys the hill of Samaria and builds the northern capital.

The city of Samaria was the northern kingdom's capital for a century and a half, the setting of Elijah's and Elisha's confrontations with Ahab's house. After Assyria deported Israel, the mixed population of the region became the Samaritans, and the old enmity with Judah hardened into the division Jesus crossed in .

The central hill country between Galilee and Judea, and the capital city of the northern kingdom built by Omri.

Biblical names
Samaria, Shomron
Later names
Sebaste (Herod's rebuild)
Modern identification
Sebastia

Identification note. The ancient region of Samaria lay in the central highlands, overlapping part of the modern West Bank.

Samaria's hill commands the pass between the coastal plain and the Jordan valley; its palace ivory and its sieges both belong to that position.

Between Galilee and Judea lay Samaria, so Jews travelling to the feasts either passed through it or crossed the Jordan to go around. says Jesus had to pass through Samaria, a necessity of geography as well as of mission.

  • Omri buys the hill of Samaria and builds the northern capital.
  • Ben-Hadad besieges Samaria
  • Samaria falls to Assyria
  • Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well
  • Philip preaches Christ in the city of Samaria

What we know

Certain

  • Samaria as Omri's capital and its fall to Assyria are stated in Scripture and attested archaeologically at Sebastia.