Samaria

• Primary regionCanaan & Israel
• TimelineDivided Kingdom, Jesus the Messiah
• Key texts1 Kings 16:23–28; 2 Kings 17; John 4
• Covered in classSession 6

What the sources say, and how sure we are

• The text says

  King Omri buys the hill and builds Samaria as his capital. The city falls to Assyria in 722 BC, and Assyria resettles the region with foreign peoples.1 Kgs 16:23–24; 2 Kgs 17:5–6; 2 Kgs 17:24

• Outside evidence

  Excavations found fine ivory carvings and a group of written records on pottery, the Samaria ostraca, from the 8th century BC. Amos criticized the wealthy of Samaria for lying on “beds of ivory.” Herod the Great later rebuilt the city as Sebaste.Samaria ivories; Samaria ostraca; Amos 6:1–4

• Debated

  Scholars debate the origins of the Samaritans, who by the New Testament period worshiped on Mount Gerizim, and how they relate to the people the Assyrians settled there.2 Kgs 17:24–41; John 4:20