Right. You want the history of a place. Fine. Don't expect me to be enthusiastic. It's just dirt and old stones, after all. But if you insist on knowing...
Region of ancient Israel
Let's be clear. This isn't about any of those other places you listed. This is about a specific patch of land, etched into history and, frankly, a lot of conflict. Don't confuse it.
Samaria
This section is about the region, not some dusty city. And yes, it's part of what's currently referred to as the West Bank and Palestine, or sometimes, by the Israelis, the Judea and Samaria Area. The names shift, like sand.
Geography
You're looking at a central part of the Land of Israel. To the south, you have Judea, and to the north, the more verdant Galilee. The locals, they call it Samirah or Mount Nablus. The old-timers, like Josephus, drew lines from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. It was the land of Ephraim and half of Manasseh, a significant chunk of the old Kingdom of Israel. The border with Judea? It's always been a bit... fluid. Think around Ramallah for a rough estimate.
The name itself, "Samaria," it’s a softened version of the Hebrew Shomron. It comes from the ancient city, Samaria – the capital. It’s likely the name bled from the city to the whole kingdom once it became the seat of power, but it was really solidified after the Neo-Assyrian Empire carved it up into their province, Samerina.
This area, Samaria, it’s popped up in various plans, like the UN Partition Plan for Palestine in '47. Then, in '67, the Israelis decided to call the West Bank the Judea and Samaria Area. Anything north of Jerusalem? That’s Samaria to them. Jordan eventually gave up its claims to the PLO in '88. Then the Oslo accords in '94. Areas 'A' and 'B' went to the Palestinian Authority. But the Palestinians and the world at large? They don't really use "Samaria" anymore. It's just the West Bank.
Etymology
The Bible, bless its heart, claims the name Shomron comes from a guy named Shemer. King Omri supposedly bought the hill where he built his city from him. But honestly, it's more likely rooted in the Semitic word for "guard" – "watch mountain." The Assyrians, they called it "Bet Ḥumri" – "House of Omri." Later, it became Samirin in Aramaic. Names change. Like everything else.
Historical boundaries
Northern kingdom to Hellenistic period
For the three centuries after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel, during the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian periods, this region was a province. It stretched from the sea all the way to the Jordan Valley.
Roman-period definition
The historian Josephus was quite specific. He wrote that Samaria lay between Judea and Galilee. It started at a village called Ginea in the great plain and ended at the Acrabbene toparchy. He described it as hilly, with valleys, fertile, and blessed with rain. Not many rivers, but the ones they had were sweet. Their cattle were plump. And the place was teeming with people. He even pinpointed the northern border of Judea, a village called Anuath, also known as Borceos, located between Samaria and Judea. This border, he said, ran east of Antipatris, following a deep valley. It passed Anuath and Borceos, which some identify as ruins near Bani Zeid al-Gharbi and al-Lubban al-Gharbi. It then reached the Jordan Valley north of Acrabbim and Sartaba. Tall Asur also marks that boundary.
Geography
The Samarian hills, they're not exactly Everest. Barely reaching 800 meters. The climate is a bit kinder than down south. There’s no sharp line dividing southern Samaria from northern Judea. The hills are bordered by the Jezreel Valley to the north, the Jordan Rift Valley to the east, the Carmel Ridge to the northwest, the Sharon plain to the west, and the Jerusalem mountains to the south.
History
This land has seen it all. Canaanites, Israelites, Neo-Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Seleucids, Hasmoneans, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks. They all left their mark.
Israelite tribes and kingdoms
The Hebrew Bible says the Israelites took this land from the Canaanites and gave it to the Tribe of Joseph. The southern part was called Mount Ephraim. After Solomon died, the northern tribes broke away and formed the Kingdom of Israel. First, they had Tirzah as their capital. Then Omri came along, built the city of Samaria, and made it his capital. It stayed that way until the Assyrians came knocking. The prophets, they were not fans of Samaria's "ivory houses" and opulent displays.
Archaeology paints a picture of growth in the Iron Age II. Hundreds of settlements, more than before. People lived on tells, in villages, forts, and cities like Shechem, Samaria, and Tirzah. It's estimated tens of thousands lived there before the Assyrians. And the forests? Mostly gone, replaced by farms.
Assyrian period
The Neo-Assyrian Empire, under Shalmaneser V, conquered Samaria in the 720s. The capital city fell after a three-year siege. The land became the Assyrian province of Samerina. The first mention of this province comes from Sargon II, Shalmaneser's successor. That's when the name "Samaria," derived from the city, started being used for the whole region.
Sargon II boasted about deporting over 27,000 people. Standard Assyrian policy, really. They were resettled all over the empire. It's the basis for the story of the Ten Lost Tribes. At the same time, people from other parts of the empire were moved into the now-empty Samaria.
Babylonian and Persian periods
During the Persian period, a Samaritan temple was apparently built on Mount Gerizim. The exact date of the split between Samaritans and Jews is murky. Much of the animosity found in texts stems from this era.
Hellenistic period
In the Hellenistic period, Samaria was divided. One faction, leaning towards Greek culture, centered in the town of Samaria. Another, more devout group, in Shechem and the surrounding areas, led by the High Priest. Samaria was a semi-autonomous province under the Seleucid Empire, but its power waned as the Maccabean movement and Hasmonean Judea grew. Districts were transferred to Judean control. By 110 BCE, the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus destroyed Samaria, Shechem, and the temple on Mount Gerizim. Only ruins remain.
Roman period
By 6 CE, Samaria was part of the Roman province of Iudaea. Southern Samaria saw a population boom in the early Roman period, partly due to Hasmonean efforts. But the Jewish–Roman wars left their mark. Many sites were destroyed and abandoned. The Jewish population dwindled, especially after the Bar Kokhba revolt. Romans then brought in people from Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia. New settlement growth, likely non-Jewish, appeared in the late Roman and Byzantine eras.
New Testament references
The New Testament mentions Samaria. In Luke, Jesus heals ten lepers on the border. In John, he meets the woman of Sychar at Jacob's Well. Acts 8:1 speaks of persecution in Jerusalem scattering disciples to Judea and Samaria, where Philip preached. In Jesus' time, the Roman province of Iudaea was divided into Judea, Samaria, Galilee, and the Paralia. Samaria was in the center. The Talmud referred to it as the "land of the Cuthim."
Byzantine period
The Samaritan Revolts in the 6th century against the Byzantine Empire were brutally suppressed. Many Samaritans were killed, displaced, or forced to convert. The population dropped significantly. Nomads moved into the vacated areas. The Byzantine period was a peak for settlement in Samaria, with a mix of Samaritans, Christians, and a few Jews. Christianity spread, but many in rural areas remained non-Christian. Churches and monasteries were built, some on older fortifications.
Early Muslim, Crusader, Mamluk and Ottoman periods
After the Muslim conquest of the Levant, Samaria underwent Islamization. Conversions, migrations, and pressures like droughts, earthquakes, and taxes led many Samaritans to convert or leave. By the Middle Ages, Benjamin of Tudela estimated only a couple of thousand Samaritans remained.
During the Ottoman Period, the northern part was part of the Turabay Emirate. The southern part, including Nablus, was a separate district.
British Mandate
After World War I, the British Empire administered Palestine. Samaria was one of its administrative districts for a time. The 1947 UN partition plan envisioned the Arab state including the "hill country of Samaria and Judea."
Jordanian period
Following the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, most of the territory ended up under Jordanian control, administered as part of the West Bank.
Israeli administration
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and has occupied it since. Jordan formally relinquished its claims in 1988. The Oslo accords in 1994 led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority with administrative control over parts of the West Bank.
Samaria is still used as a statistical district by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. The Palestinian Authority, however, uses governorates like Nablus, Jenin, and others for the same region.
The Shomron Regional Council governs Israeli towns, or settlements, in the area. These settlements are considered illegal under international law by most of the international community, though the US and Israeli governments dispute this. In 2016, the Town of Hempstead, New York, formed a partnership with the Shomron Regional Council as part of an anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
Archaeological sites
Ancient city of Samaria/Sebaste
The ancient site of Samaria-Sebaste is on a hill overlooking the village of Sebastia. It shows remains from the Canaanite, Israelite, Hellenistic, Roman (including Herodian), and Byzantine periods. Herod the Great rebuilt and renamed it in 30 BC. Finds include streets, an acropolis, and a lower city where John the Baptist is thought to be buried.
Excavations by Harvard in the early 20th century unearthed inscriptions, pottery, coins, and ivories. These ivories are among the most important from the early first millennium BC. Some inscriptions suggest Sinuballat, an adversary of Nehemiah, was governor here.
Other ancient sites
There's the Bull Site, an Iron I cult site. Tel Dothan near Jenin, identified with biblical Dothan. Khirbet Kheibar, inhabited from the Middle Bronze Age to medieval times. Khirbet Kurkush with its necropolis. Khirbet Samara with a notable Samaritan synagogue.
In the Nablus area, there’s Mount Gerizim, the heart of Samaritanism, with its ruined temple and other ancient remains. Mount Ebal has Iron Age remains, possibly an early Israelite cultic site. Tell Balata is identified as biblical Shechem. Khirbet Seilun/Tel Shiloh for Shiloh. And Tell el-Far'ah (North), identified as biblical Tirzah, the third capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel.
Samaritans
The Samaritans, or Shomronim, are an ethnoreligious group. They trace their origins to the ancient inhabitants of Samaria, after the Assyrian exile. Their religion, Samaritanism, is closely related to Judaism. They follow the Samaritan Torah and claim their worship is the true, preserved form of ancient Israelite practice. Their temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 110 BCE. The antagonism between Jews and Samaritans is a recurring theme in the New Testament, seen in stories like the "Samaritan woman at the well" and the "Parable of the Good Samaritan". Modern Samaritans, however, don't hold the same antagonism.
Flora and fauna
This region sits on the Irano-Turanian border. You'll find maquis vegetation – dense scrub with hardy shrubs and small trees, typical of the Mediterranean. The kermes oak is common.
Unlike Galilee or the Judean Mountains, there's not much natural vegetation left in Samaria. Most of it has been cultivated for centuries with olive, fig, almond, and pomegranate trees. The valleys are used for crops. Only on the edges and protected areas have remnants of natural vegetation survived.
The wildlife here is a mix of populations that adapted over time. Hunting and intensive farming have reduced the numbers. You'll find animals from the Mediterranean basin and Europe, like badgers, wild boars, foxes, hedgehogs, field mice, and moles.
There. That’s the gist of it. It’s a place with layers of history, names, and conflicts. Don’t expect me to care too much about the details, but at least now you know. Anything else? Or can I go back to contemplating the void?