Sebastia ( ar, سبسطية, ''Sabastiyah''; , ''Sevasti''; , ''Sebastiya''; la, Sebaste) is a Palestinian village of over 4,500 inhabitants,2007 PCBS Census

Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS; ar, الجهاز المركزي للإحصاء الفلسطيني) is the official statistical institution of the State of Palestine. Its main task is to provide credible statistical figures a ...

. p.110. located in the

Nablus Governorate The Nablus Governorate ( ar, محافظة نابلس ') is an administrative district of Palestine located in the Central Highlands of the West Bank, 53 km north of Jerusalem. It covers the area around the city of Nablus which serves as the ...

of the

State of Palestine Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization ( ...

, some 12 kilometers northwest of the city of

Nablus Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...

. Sebastia is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. In the 9th century BCE, it was known as

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

, and served as the capital city of the northern

Kingdom of Israel The Kingdom of Israel may refer to any of the historical kingdoms of ancient Israel, including: Fully independent (c. 564 years) *Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) (1047–931 BCE), the legendary kingdom established by the Israelites and uniting ...

until it was destroyed by the

Neo-Assyrian Empire The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew ...

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 Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renova ...

, who renamed it Sebastia in honor of emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

. Since the middle of the

4th century The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 ( CCCI) through 400 ( CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great, who became the first Roma ...

, the town has been identified by Christians and Muslims as the burial site of

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, whose purported grave is today part of Nabi Yahya Mosque. Conquered by Muslims in the

7th century The 7th century is the period from 601 ( DCI) through 700 ( DCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Common Era. The spread of Islam and the Muslim conquests began with the unification of Arabia by Muhammad starting in 622. After Mu ...

, the present-day village of Sebastia is home to a number of important archaeological sites.

Etymology

In ancient times, Sebastia was known as Samaria ( he, שומרון, translit=Šomron) which translates into "watch" or "watchman" in English. The city of Samaria later gave its name to the region of

, the ancient Hebrew name used for the central region of the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isr ...

, surrounding the city of

Shechem Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first c ...

(modern-day Nablus). According to first-century historian

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

renamed the city Sebastia in honor of the Roman emperor

. 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

Ancient Samaria

Furniture_Inlays,_9th-8th_Century_BC_(43218922881)

In the 9th and the 8th centuries BCE, Samaria was capital of the northern

. According to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' 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 Israel's Tirzah, Israel's second capital (). 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 A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

Tola in the 12th century BC (). 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 The Arameans ( oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; syc, ܐܪ̈ܡܝܐ, Ārāmāyē) were an ancient Semitic-speaking people in the Near East, first recorded in historical sources from the late 12th century BCE. 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. In 720 BCE, Samaria fell to the

following a three-year siege, bringing an end to the Kingdom of Israel. After the fall of the Kingdom of Israel, Samaria became an administrative center under Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian rule. Many important archeological findings were discovered at Ancient Samaria. These included a royal Israelite palace dating from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE. 500 pieces of carved ivory were found in the Samaria, and were identified by some scholars with the "palace adorned with ivory" mentioned in the Bible (). The Samaria Ostraca, a collection of 102 ostraca written in the

Paleo-Hebrew Script The Paleo-Hebrew script ( he, הכתב העברי הקדום), also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew, is the writing system found in Canaanite inscriptions from the region of biblical Israel and Judah. It is considered to be the script ...

were unearthed by

George Andrew Reisner George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine. Biography Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth ...

of the Harvard

Semitic Museum The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, previously the Harvard Semitic Museum) is a museum founded in 1889. It moved into its present location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1903. Description From the beginning, ...

Classical antiquity

Samaria was destroyed by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

in 331 BCE, and was destroyed again by Hasmonean king

John Hyrcanus John Hyrcanus (; ''Yōḥānān Hurqanōs''; grc, Ἰωάννης Ὑρκανός, Iōánnēs Hurkanós) was a Hasmonean ( Maccabean) leader and Jewish high priest of the 2nd century BCE (born 164 BCE, reigned from 134 BCE until his death in ...

in 108 BCE.Sebaste, Holy Land
Atlas Travel and Tourism Agency.

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

rebuilt the town in the year 63 BCE.

Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in th ...

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

and the descendants of Macedonian soldiers are believed to had been inhabited the city. 2016_WLM_-_OVEDC_-_Ancient_Roman_theatre_of_Sebastia_033

In 27 BCE, Samaria was rebuilt by

, king of

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...

. The new city was renamed "Sebastia" in the honor of the Roman emperor

. Herod built two temples in the city: one, dedicated to Augustus, was constructed on an elevated platform in the city's

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

; it was probably influenced by the Forum of Caesar in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. 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, Herod had his sons Alexander and Aristobulus brought to Sebastia and strangled there, after a trial in

Berytus ) or Laodicea in Canaan (2nd century to 64 BCE) , image = St. George's Cathedral, Beirut.jpg , image_size = , alt = , caption = Roman ruins of Berytus, in front of Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in moder ...

, with the approbation of Augustus.

Medieval period

Sherds This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

from the Late

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

,Zertal, 2004, pp.
463
464

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, early

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

eras have been found in modern-day Sebastia. Sebastia was the seat of a bishop in the Crusader

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...

. 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 Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, 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

Ottoman era

Sebastia from the 1871-77 Palestine Exploration Fund Survey of Palestine

Sebastia was incorporated into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the tax registers as being in the ''

Nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

'' 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 The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (also spelled ''akche'', ''akcheh''; ota, آقچه; ) refers to a silver coin which was the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. The word itself evolved from the word "silver or silver money", this word is der ...

.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 129 The French explorer

Victor Guérin Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Min ...

visited the village in 1870 and found it to have less than a thousand inhabitants. In 1882, the PEF's '' Survey of Western Palestine'' described Sebastia as "A large and flourishing village, of stone and mud houses, on the hill of the ancient Samaria. The position is a very fine one; the hill rises some 400 to 500 feet above the open valley on the north, and is isolated on all sides but the east, where a narrow saddle exists some 200 feet lower than the top of the hill. There is a flat plateau on the top, on the east end of which the village stands, the plateau extending westwards for over half a mile. A higher knoll rises from the plateau, west of the village, from which a fine view is obtained as far as the Mediterranean Sea. The whole hill consists of soft soil, and is terraced to the very top. On the north it is bare and white, with steep slopes, and a few olives; a sort of recess exists on this side, which is all plough-land, in which stand the lower

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...

. On the south a beautiful olive-grove, rising in terrace above terrace, completely covers the sides of the hill, and a small extent of open terraced-land, for growing

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley p ...

, exists towards the west and at the top. The village itself is ill-built, and modern, with ruins of a Crusading church of Neby Yahyah (St. John the Baptist), towards the northwest. A

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

lies by the road on the north-east, but no rock-cut tombs have as yet been noticed on the hill, though possibly hidden beneath the present plough-land. There is a large cemetery of rock-cut tombs to the north, on the other side of the valley. The neighbourhood of Samaria is well supplied with water. In the months of July and August a stream was found (in 1872) in the valley south of the hill, coming from the spring (Ain Harun), which has a good supply of drinkable water, and a conduit leading from it to a small ruined mill. Vegetable gardens exist below the spring. To the east is a second spring called 'Ain Kefr Ruma, and the valley here also flows with water during part of the year, other springs existing further up it. The threshing-floors of the village are on the plateau north-west of the houses. The inhabitants are somewhat turbulent in character, and appear to be rich, possessing very good lands. There is a Greek Bishop, who is, however, non-resident; the majority of the inhabitants are Moslems, but some are

Greek Christians The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...

."Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp
160
161 Between 1915 and 1938, Sebastia was served by two stations on the Afula–Nablus–Tulkarm branch line of the Jezreel Valley railway: Mas'udiya station at the three-way junction, around 1.5 km to the west of the village, and Sabastiya station, around 1.5 km to the south. The site was first excavated by the Harvard Expedition, initially directed by

Gottlieb Schumacher Gottlieb Schumacher (21 November 1857 – 26 November 1925) was an American-born civil engineer, architect and archaeologist of German descent, who was an important figure in the early archaeological exploration of Palestine. Early life Schum ...

in 1908 and then by

in 1909 and 1910; with the assistance of architect C.S. Fisher and D.G. Lyon.

British Mandate era

In the

1922 census of Palestine The 1922 census of Palestine was the first census carried out by the authorities of the British Mandate of Palestine, on 23 October 1922. The reported population was 757,182, including the military and persons of foreign nationality. The divis ...

, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, ''Sabastia'' had a population of 572; 10 Christians and 562 Muslim. This had increased in the 1931 census to 753; 2 Jews, 20 Christians and 731 Muslim, in a total of 191 houses.Mills, 1932, p
64
/ref> In the 1945 statistics Sebastia had a population of 1,020; 980 Muslims and 40 Christians,Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p
19
/ref> with 5,066

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amou ...

s of land, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 1,284 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,493 used for cereals, while 90 dunams were built-up land. The second expedition was known as the Joint Expedition, a consortium of 5 institutions directed by

John Winter Crowfoot John Winter Crowfoot CBE (28 July 1873 – 6 December 1959) was a British educational administrator and archaeologist. He worked for 25 years in Egypt and Sudan, serving from 1914 to 1926 as Director of Education in the Sudan, before accepting an ...

between 1931 and 1935; with the assistance of Kathleen Mary Kenyon,

Eliezer Sukenik Eleazar Lipa Sukenik (12 August 1889, in Białystok – 28 February 1953, in Jerusalem) was an Israeli archaeologist and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is best known for helping establish the Department of Archaeology at the ...

and G.M. Crowfoot. The leading institutions were the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, the

Palestine Exploration Fund The Palestine Exploration Fund is a British society based in London. It was founded in 1865, shortly after the completion of the Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, and is the oldest known organization in the world created specifically for the stud ...

, and the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public university, public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein ...

. In the 1960s small scale excavations directed by Fawzi Zayadine were carried out on behalf of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.

Jordanian era

In the wake of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. In 1961, the population was 1,345.

Post-1967

Palestine flag waves near the entrance of Tel Sebastia, 2022

Since the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

in 1967, Sebastia has been held under Israeli military occupation, while the Palestinian Authority is the civil authority of the area. In modern-day Sebastia, the village's main

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, known as the Nabi Yahya Mosque, stands within the remains of a Crusader

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

that is believed to be built upon the tombs of the prophets

Elisha Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...

, Obediah and John the Baptist beside the public square. There are also

royal tombs, and a few medieval and many Ottoman era buildings which survive in a good state of preservation. Jordanian archaeologists had also restored the Roman theater near the town. In late 1976, the Israeli settlers movement, Gush Emunim, attempted to establish a settlement at the Ottoman train station. The Israeli government did not approve and the group that was removed from the site would later found the settlement of Elon Moreh adjacent to

. Today, Sebastia is a Palestinian village of over 4,500 inhabitants, located in the

of the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. The ancient site of Sebastia is located just above the built-up area of the modern day village on the eastern slope of the hill.

Ecclesiastical see

The

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

of Sebastia is part of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Theodosios (Hanna) has been the see's

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

since 2005.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Welcome To SabastiyaSebastiya
Welcome to Palestine *Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11:
IAAWikimedia commonsSabastiya, aerial photo
Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem ARIJ
Development Priorities and Needs in Sabastiya
ARIJ
Municipality of Sabastiya - Nablus Governorate - Palestine

Throne villages
with Al Kayed Palace in Sabastiya, RIWAQ
Samaria (city)
biblewalks * {{Authority control Bronze Age sites in the State of Palestine Villages in the West Bank Throne villages Municipalities of the State of Palestine Ruins in the State of Palestine Populated places established in the 9th century BC Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) Omrides