Samaria

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Samaria
     a watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains
     of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the "hill
     of Shomeron," a solitary mountain, a great "mamelon." It is an
     oblong hill, with steep but not inaccessible sides, and a long
     flat top. Omri, the king of Israel, purchased this hill from


     Shemer its owner for two talents of silver, and built on its
     broad summit the city to which he gave the name of "Shomeron",
     i.e., Samaria, as the new capital of his kingdom instead of
     Tirzah (1 Kings 16:24). As such it possessed many advantages.
     Here Omri resided during the last six years of his reign. As the
     result of an unsuccessful war with Syria, he appears to have
     been obliged to grant to the Syrians the right to "make streets
     in Samaria", i.e., probably permission to the Syrian merchants
     to carry on their trade in the Israelite capital. This would
     imply the existence of a considerable Syrian population. "It was
     the only great city of Palestine created by the sovereign. All
     the others had been already consecrated by patriarchal tradition
     or previous possession. But Samaria was the choice of Omri
     alone. He, indeed, gave to the city which he had built the name
     of its former owner, but its especial connection with himself as
     its founder is proved by the designation which it seems Samaria
     bears in Assyrian inscriptions, Beth-khumri ('the house or
     palace of Omri').", Stanley.
     
       Samaria was frequently besieged. In the days of Ahab, Benhadad
     II. came up against it with thirty-two vassal kings, but was
     defeated with a great slaughter (1 Kings 20:1-21). A second
     time, next year, he assailed it; but was again utterly routed,
     and was compelled to surrender to Ahab (20:28-34), whose army,
     as compared with that of Benhadad, was no more than "two little
     flocks of kids."
     
       In the days of Jehoram this Benhadad again laid siege to
     Samaria, during which the city was reduced to the direst
     extremities. But just when success seemed to be within their
     reach, they suddenly broke up the seige, alarmed by a mysterious
     noise of chariots and horses and a great army, and fled, leaving
     their camp with all its contents behind them. The famishing
     inhabitants of the city were soon relieved with the abundance of
     the spoil of the Syrian camp; and it came to pass, according to
     the word of Elisha, that "a measure of fine flour was sold for a
     shekel, and two measures of barely for a shekel, in the gates of
     Samaria" (2 Kings 7:1-20).
     
       Shalmaneser invaded Israel in the days of Hoshea, and reduced
     it to vassalage. He laid siege to Samaria (B.C. 723), which held
     out for three years, and was at length captured by Sargon, who
     completed the conquest Shalmaneser had begun (2 Kings 18:9-12;
     17:3), and removed vast numbers of the tribes into captivity.
     (See {SARGON}.)
     
       This city, after passing through various vicissitudes, was
     given by the emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt
     it, and called it Sebaste (Gr. form of Augustus) in honour of
     the emperor. In the New Testament the only mention of it is in
     Acts 8:5-14, where it is recorded that Philip went down to the
     city of Samaria and preached there.
     
       It is now represented by the hamlet of Sebustieh, containing
     about three hundred inhabitants. The ruins of the ancient town
     are all scattered over the hill, down the sides of which they
     have rolled. The shafts of about one hundred of what must have
     been grand Corinthian columns are still standing, and attract
     much attention, although nothing definite is known regarding
     them. (Comp. Micah 1:6.)
     
       In the time of Christ, Western Palestine was divided into
     three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Samaria occupied
     the centre of Palestine (John 4:4). It is called in the Talmud
     the "land of the Cuthim," and is not regarded as a part of the
     Holy Land at all.
     
       It may be noticed that the distance between Samaria and
     Jerusalem, the respective capitals of the two kingdoms, is only
     35 miles in a direct line.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Samaria, watch-mountain