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Important: this page is not about history but a view on a history.
5. SAMARIA
The united Kingdom of David split into two separate entities after the death of his son, King Solomon around 931 BCE due to a dispute over taxation and leadership. The northern tribes rejected Solomon's son, Rehoboam, and crowned Jeroboam as their own king, establishing their capital first at Shechem and later at Samaria. Samaria refers to a historical region and its capital city in the central ancient region, situated between Judea and Galilee, known for its distinct people and biblical history, including being the capital of the Northern Kingdom before its Assyrian conquest and a key location in New Testament narratives like the story of the woman at the well. Today, the area corresponds to parts of the northern West Bank, with the ancient city ruins near modern-day Nablus (Sebaste). The Northern Kingdom has been described as having been populated by these peoples:
The tribes and their habitats, as described above, are about personalities who have their names from their fathers, except for the Mansseh tribe whom name refers to the name of a ruler. None of them carry geographical names. For instance, the Jebusites were a tribe named after the hill Jebu, now Jerusalem. All infornation as provided are from what is called the 'Hebrew Bible,' while Jews either have the Torah or Talmuds.
HOW SAMARIA LOST ITS JUDAIC IDENTITY
ASSYRIAN RULE The Assyrians invaded and captured Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom between 724 and 721 BCE, culminating in a three-year siege that ended around 722/721 BCE under Sargon II, marking the fall of the kingdom. The siege began around 724 BCE, initiated by Assyrian King Shalmaneser V, and ended with the capture of the city after a lengthy siege (724-721 BCE), completed by Sargon II (Shalmaneser V's successor) in 722 or 721 BCE. The Assyrians captured King Hoshea, deported much of the Israelite population to other parts of the empire, and resettled Samaria with people from other conquered lands, effectively ending the northern Kingdom. THE FIRST MUSLIM RULE After the Babylonians conquered Judah (see map on the left) and exiled its people (around 586 BCE), the region came under the control of the Persian Empire, specifically King Cyrus the Great, who allowed the Jews to return home and rebuild their temple in 538 BCE, leading to the period of Persian rule before later conquests by the Greeks (Alexander the Great) and Hellenistic powers. The Persians were an ancient Indo-Iranian people who settled the Iranian Plateau, forming powerful empires, most notably the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BCE), which became the largest empire of its time, stretching across vast parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. United by the Persian (Farsi) language, they are known for their significant cultural, artistic, scientific, and political contributions, with modern Persians being the majority ethnic group in Iran, practicing Shia Islam, and a related community (Parsis) in India following Zoroastrianism. HELLENISTIC RULE Samaria was invaded by the Hellenists during the conquests of Alexander the Great around 332 BCE. Following a Samaritan revolt in which the Macedonian governor was killed, Alexander destroyed the city and re-established it as a Macedonian military colony. The city remained under Hellenistic control (initially Ptolemaic, then Seleucid) for nearly two centuries until its final conquest and destruction by the Jewish Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus around 110 BCE. ROMAN ERA The Hasmoneans invaded and captured the region of Samaria around 110 BCE, under the rule of the Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus I. His forces first attacked the religious and urban centers of the Samaritan population. They razed the city of Shechem and destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim around 111–110 BCE. The Romans took over power from the Hasmonean dynasty and incorporated the region of Samaria into their sphere of influence in 63 BCE, after the Roman general Pompey the Great intervened in a Hasmonean civil war. The Romans originally practiced a polytheistic religion focused on numerous gods (like Jupiter, Mars, Venus) and household spirits, emphasizing rituals for a good relationship (pax deorum) for state and family success, heavily influenced by the Greeks. This practical, ritualistic system evolved, incorporating foreign cults (like Isis, Mithras) and eventually, by the 4th century CE, transitioned under emperors like Theodosius to become officially Christian (Nicene Christianity), making it the state religion of the Roman Empire. THE SECOND MUSLIM RULE The first Muslim rule in Samaria began with the Rashidun Caliphate's conquest of the region around the 630s CE, following the Arab conquest of Byzantine Palestine, establishing an early Islamic presence that grew with later Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid, and eventually Mamluk and Ottoman rule.
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Naphtali refers to a tribe described as the 6th son of Jacob, second son of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, making him a half-brother to Dan, whose descendants formed one of the twelve tribes, inheriting fertile land in the north of Canaan, near the Sea of Galilee; the tribe was known for its swiftness and military strength, linked to Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah's ministry in Galilee, where Jesus lived in Capernaum, fulfilling "the land of Zebulun and Naphtali". HIs name has been described as meaning "My wrestlings," from Rachel's declaration that she "wrestled" with her sister Leah and prevailed in having children. The tribe eventually lost its distinct identity as one of the Ten Lost Tribes after Assyrian conquests.