Samaria

Samaria ("watch mountain") is the central part of the region of Palestine, and extends for about 40 miles from north to south, and 35 miles from east to west.



Archaeological finds
Many parts of the Samarian city wall have been found. Made of Ashlor blocks and decorated with beautiful illustrations of ivory, these 1 1/2 meter thick pieces of cold hard history are lovely attraction.

Samaritanism
The religious views of the Samaritans were greatly effected by each of their many conquerors. They started out with the same beliefs of the Jews in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). But as time progressed, and they were captured or conquered by different regions their religion changed as well. At different points in time they worshiped gods such as YHWH, Baal, and Astarte. During their time under the Greek reign, Alexander the Great even aloud them to build a temple. The Jews believed them to be racially impure, but also admitted that the Samaritans were not ordinary pagans.

Geography
This link leads to a complete power point presentation on the topic of the geological position of Samaria.

Bible References
There are many references to Samaria in the Bible from 1 Kings all the way to Acts. This link leads to a complete list of all these occurrences.

But perhaps the most memorable mentioning of Samaria is the parable of the good Samaritan (from Luke 10:25-37) which is noted below.

Related References

 * "Samaria." Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite. (2007).
 * Samaria Hebrew Lexicon
 * wikipedia
 * cyrstalinks.com
 * bibleplaces.com
 * livius.org
 * answers.com
 * bible.com
 * geography site