Samaria
Samaria names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Samaria Palestine; situated toward the N
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
Palestine; situated toward the N. of Judea. Samaria was the country in which the 10 revolted tribes raised their independent state and formed the kingdom properly denominated Israel, in contradistinction to that of Judah, embracing the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, from which the other 10 had seceded when, refusing the authority of Rehoboam, they established a dynasty of their own, at the head of which they placed Jeroboam, the first king of the nation of Israel. So deadly was the animosity and so implacable the hatred that existed between these two nations of Jews, that, from the time of their severance to the destruction of their capital and the captivity of Israel, an almost perpetual state of warfare existed between Judah and Israel; and the term of Samaritan was one of the bitterest contempt and reproach that could be applied to any one. The antipathy borne by the people of Judah for those of Israel or Samaria was not only political, but religious. Theological dissensions were, however, in time greatly modified by the return of the Samaritans to the ancient form of worship, and by the erection of a temple in the capital, an event that was celebrated soon after the passage of Alexander the Great through the land of Syria. The city of Samaria, and capital of the kingdom, was situated on a hill, Mount Sameron, was founded by Omri, and from that time till its overthrow by the Assyrians was the residence of all the Kings of Israel. It was subsequently rebuilt by Herod, who called it Sebaste (a Greek word signifying Augustus), in honor of Augustus Cæsar.
Samaria a city and country of
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city and country of
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921, Samaria's capital was known mainly from scripture; the Harvard excavations of 1908-10 had only just begun to uncover the hilltop, and the great joint expedition of 1931-35 went on to expose the palace complex attributed to Omri and Ahab, hundreds of carved ivories, and the Samaria ostraca, administrative dockets in early Hebrew script. The account places the Samaritan temple in the capital; excavation since the 1980s has instead revealed the sanctuary precinct on Mount Gerizim above Nablus, where the Samaritans still hold their Passover. Collier's treats "Samaritan" as a term of extinct reproach, but the community survives as a distinct religious group of roughly 800 people, split between Mount Gerizim and Holon in Israel. The site itself, Sebastia, lies in the occupied West Bank, and "Samaria" has become a politically loaded name in modern Israeli usage.
Written for this edition, 2026.