HOME / Table of Contents = Civilizations - Cultures - Areas - Regions - Prehistory
Other Archaeological Sites / The Neolithic of the Levant (500 Page Book Online)

Ancient Samaria (Hebrew Shomron)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary --- Samaritans

Alexander Kaplunovsky

2 Kings 17:24: And the King of Assyria brought men from Babylon and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof instead of the original inhabitants whom Sargon (BC 721) had removed into captivity ...

2 Kings 18:9-12 18:9 And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it 18:10 And at the end of three years they took it: even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken 18:11 And the king of Assyria (Sargon) did carry away Israel unto Assyria and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes: 18:12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded and would not hear them nor do them ...

Ruins on the Hill of Samaria These strangers amalgamated with the Jews still remaining in the land and gradually abandoned their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish religion. After the return from the Captivity the Jews in Jerusalem refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding the temple and hence sprang up an open enmity between them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim which was however destroyed by a Jewish king (BC 130). They then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord: the Jews had "no dealings with the Samaritans" ...

The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium