1. the name of a city built by Omri king of Israel (1 Kings 16:24), on a mountain of the same name (שֹׁמְרון הַר, Amos 6:1), situated in the tribe of Ephraim; it was the capital of the whole region and the residence of the kings of Israel. After having been besieged three years by Shalmaneser (IV.), king of Assyria, it was taken and doubtless devastated by Sargon, his son and successor, , who deported the ten tribes of Israel and supplied their place with other settlers; 2 Kings 17:5f, 24; 2 Kings 18:9ff. After its restoration, it was utterly destroyed by John Hyrcanus the Jewish prince and high priest (see next word). Long afterward rebuilt once more, it was given by Augustus to Herod (the Great), by whom it was named in honor of Augustus Sebaste, i. e. Augusta (Strabo book 16, p. 760; Josephus, Antiquities 15, 7, 3; 8, 5). It is now an obscure village bearing the name of Sebustieh or Sebastiyeh (cf. Bädeker, Palästina, p. 354ff. (English translation, p. 340ff; Murray, Handbook, Part ii., p. 329ff)). It is mentioned, Acts 8:5 L T WH, εἰς τήν πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας (genitive of apposition, cf. Winers Grammar, § 59, 8 a.; (Buttmann, § 123, 4)), but according to the better reading, πόλει ... τῆς Σαμαρείας, the genitive is partitive, and does not denote the city but the Samaritan territory; cf. Acts 8:9.

2. the Samaritan territory, the region of Samaria, of which the city Samaria was the capital: Luke 17:11; John 4:4f, 7; Acts 1:8; Acts 8:1, 5 (see above), ; ; by metonymy, for the inhabitants of the region, Acts 8:14. Cf. Winers RWB, under the word Samaria; Robinson, Palestine ii. 288ff; Petermann in Herzog 13:359ff; (especially Kautzsch in (Riehm under the word Samaritaner, and) Herzog edition 2, xiii. 340ff, and references there and in B. D. (especially American edition) under the word ).