Sebastia (, Sabastiyah; ; , Sebastiya; ) is a Palestinian village of about 3,205 inhabitants, located in the Nablus Governorate of the State of Palestine, some 12 kilometers northwest of the city of Nablus.
Sebastia is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the West Bank. In the 9th century BCE, it was known as Samaria, and served as the capital city of the northern Kingdom of Israel until it was destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE. It became an administrative center under Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian rule. During the early Roman period, the city was expanded and fortified by Herod the Great, who renamed it Sebastia in honor of emperor Augustus. Since the middle of the 4th century, the town has been identified by Christians and Muslims as the burial site of John the Baptist, whose purported grave is today part of Nabi Yahya Mosque. Conquered by Muslims in the 7th century, the present-day village of Sebastia is home to a number of important archaeological sites.For excavations conducted during the Ottoman period, see . See also: The Augusteum at Samaria-Sebaste
Etymology In ancient times, the city of Sebastia was known as Shomron () which derives from the Hebrew term שֹׁמֵר šōmēr meaning "watchman". The city bearing the ancient Hebrew name of Shomron later gave its name to the central region of the Land of Israel surrounding the city of Shechem (modern-day Nablus). In Greek, Shomron became known as Samaria.
According to first-century historian Josephus, Herod the Great renamed the city Sebastia in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus.Josephus, Antiquities (Book xv, chapter 246). The Greek sebastos, "venerable", is a translation of the Latin epithet augustus. The modern village name preserves the Roman-period name of Sebaste.
History and archaeology Between 880-723/22 BCE, Samaria was the capital of the northern Israelite kingdom of Israel, also known as Samaria after its long-time capital.Zertal, 2004, pp. 461- 463-464. Re-accessed 4 Oct 2023. Under the four centuries long Mesopotamian rule (723/22-322 BCE), it reached a golden age, which was again the case under King Herod (r. 37-4 BCE).
On the tell (archaeological mound), archaeologists uncovered various larger structures and smaller finds such as pottery sherds, from the first settlement, dating to the Early Bronze Age, from the Israelite Iron Age city, and the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods.Dauphin, 1998, pp. 766–7 At the modern village site of Sebastiyeh near the tell, pottery findings were dated to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, but also to the Early Muslim, medieval (Crusader, Ayyubid, etc.), Ottoman and modern periods.
Kingdom of Israel/Samaria
In the 9th and the 8th centuries BCE, Samaria was capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Omri, the sixth king of Israel (ruled 880s–870s BCE), purchased a hill owned by an individual (or clan) named Shemer for two talents of silver, and built its new capital on its broad summit, replacing Tirzah, Israel's second capital ().Omri, king of the 10 tribes of Israel, built the city and settled his men in the Old City, in accordance with the account relayed in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 16:24). Compare Josephus, Antiquities (Book viii, chapter xii, verse 5)
According to some biblical scholars, the earliest reference to a settlement at this location may be the town of Shamir, which according to the Hebrew Bible was the home of the judge Tola in the 12th century BC ().Boling, R.G. (1975). Judges: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. (Anchor Bible, Volume 6a), Page 185
Omri is thought to have granted the Arameans the right to "make streets in Samaria" as a sign of submission (). This probably meant permission was granted to the Aramean merchants to carry on their trade in the city. This would imply the existence of a considerable Aramean population, who called it Shamerain.Boulanger, Richard (1966). The Middle East (Hachette World Guides, Librarie Hachette, Paris), Page 643
In 720 BCE, Samaria fell to the Neo-Assyrian Empire following a three-year siege, bringing an end to the Kingdom of Israel. After the fall of the kingdom, Samaria became an administrative center under Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid (Persian) rule.
Many important archeological discoveries were made at Ancient Samaria. These included a royal Israelite palace dating from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. 500 pieces of carved ivory were found there, which led some scholars to identify the structure with the "palace adorned with ivory" mentioned in the Bible ().
The Samaria Ostraca, a collection of 102 ostraca written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet were unearthed by George Andrew Reisner of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.Hebrew Ostraca from Samaria, David G. Lyon, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Jan., 1911), pp. 136–143, quote: "The script in which these ostraca are written is the Phoenician, which was widely current in antiquity. It is very different from the so-called square character, in which the existing Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible are written."Noegel, p.396
Hellenistic period
Samaria (Shomron) was conquered by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. Curtius reports that Alexander destroyed the city and expelled its Samaritan inhabitants after Andromachus, the governor of Syria was lynched there. The city was re-established as a Macedonian military colony. The Wadi Daliyeh papyri are documents that are believed to have belonged to the Samaritans who were exiled by Alexander, who took refuge in caves in this wadi (valley), where many of them later died. It was following the conquest of Alexander that the name of the city was Hellenized, becoming Samaria.
During the Wars of the Diadochi, Samaria, at the time primarily a fort settled by Macedonians, was again destroyed according to Josephus, citing Polybius. This was done by Ptolemy I Soter when he was forced to surrender the site to Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who only held it briefly before it returned to Ptolemaic rule. The city was again rebuilt and populated from this point forward primarily by Macedonians and Hellenized Syro-Phoenicians.
Maccabean period Beginning in 113 BCE, Jewish High Priest John Hyrcanus began an extensive military campaign against Samaria. Hyrcanus placed his sons Antigonus and Aristobulus in charge of the siege of Samaria. The Samaritans called for help and eventually received 6,000 troops from Antiochus IX Cyzicenus. Although the siege lasted for a long, difficult year, Hyrcanus did not give up. Ultimately Samaria was overrun and devastated.H. Jagersma. A History of Israel from Alexander the Great to Bar Kochba. (Minneapolis.: Fortress Press, 1986), p. 83. The inhabitants of Samaria were enslaved. Upon conquering former Seleucid regions Hyrcanus implemented a policy of compelling the non-Jewish populations to adopt Jewish customs..
Roman period After Pompey rebuilt the town in the year 63 BCE, Hellenized Samaritans and the descendants of Macedonian soldiers inhabited the city.
The Roman emperor Augustus granted Samaria to Herod the Great, the Roman client king of Judea, following the defeat of Anthony and Cleopatra. Herod built the city anew in 27 BCE and named it "Sebastia" in honour of the emperor.Josephus, De Bello Judaico (Wars of the Jews) i.xxi.§2 Herod built two temples in the city: one, dedicated to Augustus, was constructed on an elevated platform in the city's acropolis; it was probably influenced by the Forum of Caesar in Rome. The second temple was dedicated to Kore. A large stadium was also built at the city, which was settled with 6000 veteran colonists, probably non-Jews who fought alongside Herod and helped him secure the throne. Later, in 7 BCE and after a trial at Berytus, Herod had his sons Alexander and Aristobulus IV transported to Sebastia and executed by being strangled for treason.Josephus Flavius Antiquities book 16 chapter 11 para 7
Theodosius II locates the execution of John the Baptist by Herod at Sebastia, while Josephus writes it took place in Machaerus east of the Jordan River. Early Christian tradition held that his body was interred in Sebastia, alongside the prophets Elisha and Obadiah, and a cult around him and the tomb had formed before the 4th century BCE. Philostorgius and Rufinus recall that Julian the Apostate (361–363) gave orders to burn the relics of the prophets in Sebastia, and that the ashes were recovered by monks from Jerusalem. A church was built at the site of the tomb, containing what remained of them, and was visited by Egeria in 384.
Sebastia was also made the site of bishopric by the time of Council of Chalcedon in 451, and was a dependency of the archbishop of Caesarea. John Rufus described the church and its martyrium in 512, writing that Elisha and John the Baptist were interred in "two caskets covered in gold and silver, in front of which lamps are always burning." The church and martyrium were still standing when Saint Willibald visited the site in 723, but by 808 the church was reported to have "fallen to the ground" leaving behind only the tomb, likely as a result of the 749 Galilee earthquake. A depiction of the church survives in the Umm ar-Rasas mosaics at the Church of St. Stephen in Umm ar-Rasas.
Medieval period
Sebastia was the seat of a bishop in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is mentioned in the writings of Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), the Syrian geographer, who situates it as part of the military district of Filastin in the province of Syria, located two days from that city, in the Nablus District. He also writes, "There are here the tombs of Zakariyyah and Yahya, his son, and of many other prophets and holy men."Le Strange, 1890, p. 523.
Saladin came to Sebastia during his expedition to central Palestine in 1184. Sebastia's bishop then released eighty Muslim captives to ensure the town's safety.
Niccolò da Poggibonsi, an Italian monk who visited Sebaste in 1347, wrote that the town was in ruins, and that only "some Saracens and a few Samaritans" lived there.
Ottoman period
Sebastia was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Jabal Sami, part of Sanjak Nablus. It had a population of 20 households and 3 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 5,500 akçe.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 129
Accordiong to the French explorer Victor Guérin, Sebastia had less than a thousand inhabitants when he visited the village in 1870.Guérin, 1875, pp. 188–96 In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.