The word Samaria can refer to the capital city of the northern ten tribes or the district of Samaria under Assyrian and Roman rule.
The city of Samaria was the capital for the Northern Kingdom for the major portion of its history. King Omri built the city in the early ninth century and moved his administrative center there (1 Kings 16:24). It remained the capital until the Northern Kingdom was carried into exile by Assyria in 721 BC. The name, according to tradition, was derived from the man King Omri bought the land from to build the city, Shemer. After the conquest of the Northern Kingdom, the city became the capital for the district that was the majority of the nation.
The city was well situated economically and defensively. A major roadway running in the proximity of the city gives easy access to Jerusalem, Megiddo, the Jezreel valley, Shechem and the Jordan valley. The hill Samaria was built upon rose 300 feet above the valleys around the city. The only disadvantage for the situation of the city was a lack of water.
Samaria is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. The prophets and historians viewed it as the seat of political power and a major source of corruption in the world. King Ahab built an altar and a temple for Baal in the city (1 Kings 16:32). Jehu later destroyed this temple and altar in a short return to the worship of hwhy. Bethel was still considered the religious center because of the calf built there by King Jeroboam I (1 Kings 12:28-30; Hosea 8:4-6; 10:3-6; Amos 7:13).
The district of Samaria comprised the central hill country of Palestine. The borders of the district were the Mediterranean Sea on the west, the Jezreel valley on the north, the Jordan River on the east and the valley of Aijalon on the south. The Joseph tribes settled the area. The half-tribe of Manasseh settled the northern half while the tribe of Ephraim settled the southern half. The area was fertile enough to promote the growth of olive and fruit trees, vegetables and wheat farming.
The name of the region is synonymous with the prophetic name "Ephraim", primarily in Isaiah and Hosea. The only times that the term Samaria is used for the district during events before the exile into Assyria were anachronistic slips in 1 Kings 13:32 and 21:1.
After the Assyrian conquest, the character of the residents of the area was dramatically changed as the native Israelites were deported and many people from the Mesopotamian region settled the region (2 Kings 17). During the reign of King Josiah of Judah, he tried to bring Samaria under political and cultural domination but it proved fruitless. After Babylon conquered Judah, the northern part of Judah and Jerusalem were incorporated into the district. The Persians separated Jerusalem from the district of Samaria and restored the district of Judaea. Antipathy between Judea and Samaria forced the builders of the Temple to refuse help from the Yahwists of Samaria (Ezra 4:8-24; 1 Esdras 5:64-73).
At the beginning of the Hellenistic period, Samaria broke out into a revolt against Macedonia. The city of Samaria was rebuilt after this revolt was quelled as a Hellenistic city. Disenfranchised Samaritans who built a temple to hwhy on Mt. Gerizim rebuilt the ancient city of Shechem. During the Hasmonean period, Samaria and Shechem were destroyed and control passed to the district of Judea. In 63 BC Pompey assigned the region to the province of Syria, but it was transferred to Herod the Great thirty-three years later. The Romans understood the cultural relationship between Judah and Samaria. This relationship allowed the Roman procurators to keep the two districts under one government. During the New Testament, Samaria was the region of the Samaritan religious community and an area that were supported the theological position of St. Paul in his missionary journeys.