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Samaria....
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In the Hebrew
Bible the name Samaria refers to the capital city of Israel, the northern kingdom. Omri ruled from 876-869 B.C.E. - and purchased a hill from a man named Shemer. After fortifying the hill, Omri constructed the city of Samaria, naming it after Shemer.
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Omri's son, Achab, married to Jezabel, a
Sidonian princess, introduced the worship of
Baal. Shortly afterward, the Prophet Elias announced the famine which for three years and more devastated the city and surrounding country.
Samaria suffered her first siege from Benadad, King of Damascus.
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Remains of Ahab's Palace in Samaria |
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Omri's son, Ahab built as his palace, an 'ivory house'. This means a palace decorated with ivory plaques like those uncovered in the Samaria excavations. A number of these plaques were found,
Phoenician in style, though since some are only partly finished, it is likely they were made in Samaria. They are decorated with a variety of pictures and motifs including animals and flowers, often showing Egyptian influence. |
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In the expansion of Assyria, Samaria fell in 721 B.C. to Sargon. The native population was deported, others were settled in its place, and the city was made the capital of an Assyrian province.
When it fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. it was the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel when many were taken into exile in Assyria
and other foreigners were brought in to replace the exiled Israelites. The region was known as Samaria and its people were called Samaritans - some of whom still live at Nablus and
Jaffa, Israel. |
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