Sebastia | |
|---|---|
| Arabic transcription(s) | |
| • Arabic | سبسطية |
| • Latin | Sabastiya Sabastia Sebaste (unofficial) |
 View of Sebastia, 2016 | |
.jpg) Sabastiya in the 2018 OCHA OpT map; the archeological site ofSamaria is located immediately east of the built up area | |
| Coordinates:32°16′36″N35°11′45″E / 32.27667°N 35.19583°E /32.27667; 35.19583 | |
| Palestine grid | 168/186 |
| State | State of Palestine |
| Governorate | Nablus |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality (from 1997) |
| • Head of Municipality | Ma’amun Harun Kayed[1] |
| Area | |
• Total | 4.8 km2 (1.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2017)[2] | |
• Total | 3,205 |
| • Density | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
Sebastia (Arabic:سبسطية,Sabastiyah;Greek:Σεβαστή, Σεβάστεια,romanized: Sevasti, Sevasteia;Hebrew:סבסטיה,Sebastiya;Latin:Sebaste) is aPalestinian village of about 3,205 inhabitants,[2] located in theNablus Governorate of theState of Palestine, some 12 kilometers northwest of the city ofNablus.[3]
Sebastia is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in theWest Bank.[4][5][6] In the 9th century BCE, it was known asSamaria, and served as the capital city of the northernKingdom of Israel until it was destroyed by theNeo-Assyrian Empire around 720BCE.[7][4][5][8] It became an administrative center under Assyrian, Babylonian and Persian rule.[5] During the early Roman period, the city was expanded and fortified byHerod the Great, who renamed it Sebastia in honor of emperorAugustus.[9][10] Since the middle of the4th century, the town has been identified by Christians and Muslims as theburial site ofJohn the Baptist, whose purported grave is today part ofNabi Yahya Mosque.[11][6] Conquered by Muslims in the7th century, the present-day village of Sebastia is home to a number of importantarchaeological sites.[12][13]
In ancient times, the city of Sebastia was known as Shomron (Hebrew:שֹׁמְרוֹן,romanized: Šōmrôn) which derives from the Hebrew term שֹׁמֵרšōmēr meaning "watchman".[14] The city bearing the ancient Hebrew name of Shomron later gave its name to the central region of theLand of Israel surrounding the city ofShechem (modern-day Nablus).[15] In Greek, Shomron became known asSamaria.
According to first-century historianJosephus,Herod the Great renamed the city Sebastia in honor of theRoman emperorAugustus.[16] The Greeksebastos, "venerable", is a translation of the Latin epithetaugustus.[17] The modern village name preserves the Roman-period name of Sebaste.
Between 880-723/22 BCE, Samaria was the capital of the northernIsraelitekingdom of Israel, also known as Samaria after its long-time capital.[18] Under the four centuries long Mesopotamian rule (723/22-322 BCE), it reached a golden age, which was again the case under KingHerod (r. 37-4 BCE).[18]
On thetell (archaeological mound), archaeologists uncovered various larger structures and smaller finds such as potterysherds, from the first settlement, dating to theEarly Bronze Age, from the IsraeliteIron Age city, and theHellenistic,Roman, andByzantine periods.[18][19] At the modern village site of Sebastiyeh near the tell, pottery findings were dated to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, but also to theEarly Muslim, medieval (Crusader,Ayyubid, etc.),Ottoman and modern periods.[18]
.jpg)
In the 9th and the 8th centuries BCE, Samaria was capital of the northernKingdom of Israel.[20] According to theHebrew Bible,Omri, the sixth king of Israel (ruled 880s–870s BCE), purchased a hill owned by an individual (or clan) named Shemer for twotalents of silver, and built its new capital on its broad summit, replacingTirzah, Israel's second capital (1 Kings 16:24).[21]
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 thejudgeTola in the 12th century BC (Judges 10:1–2).[22]
Omri is thought to have granted theArameans the right to "make streets in Samaria" as a sign of submission (1 Kings 20:34). 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.[clarification needed][23]
In 720 BCE, Samaria fell to theNeo-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, andAchaemenid (Persian) rule.[20]
Many important archeological discoveries were made at Ancient Samaria. These included a royal Israelite palace dating from the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.[24][14] 500 pieces of carved ivory were found there,[25] which led some scholars to identify the structure with the "palace adorned with ivory" mentioned in the Bible (1 Kings 22:39).
TheSamaria Ostraca, a collection of 102 ostraca written in thePaleo-Hebrew alphabet were unearthed byGeorge Andrew Reisner of theHarvard Museum of the Ancient Near East.[26][27][better source needed]
Samaria (Shomron) was conquered byAlexander 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.[28] The city was re-established as a Macedonian military colony.[28] TheWadi Daliyeh papyri are documents that are believed to have belonged to the Samaritans who were exiled by Alexander, who took refuge in caves in thiswadi (valley), where many of them later died. It was following the conquest of Alexander that the name of the city was Hellenized, becoming Samaria.[29]
During theWars of the Diadochi, Samaria, at the time primarily a fort settled by Macedonians, was again destroyed according toJosephus, citingPolybius.[30] This was done byPtolemy I Soter when he was forced to surrender the site toAntigonus I Monophthalmus, who only held it briefly before it returned toPtolemaic rule.[30] The city was again rebuilt and populated from this point forward primarily by Macedonians and Hellenized Syro-Phoenicians.[31]
Samaria was destroyed byHasmonean kingJohn Hyrcanus in 108 BCE.[32]
AfterPompey rebuilt the town in the year 63 BCE,HellenizedSamaritans and the descendants ofMacedonian soldiers inhabited the city.[33][clarification needed]
The Roman emperorAugustus granted Samaria toHerod the Great, the Roman client king ofJudea, following the defeat of Anthony andCleopatra.[34][33][31] Herod built the city anew in 27 BCE and named it "Sebastia" in honour of the emperor.[35] Herod built two temples in the city: one, dedicated to Augustus, was constructed on an elevated platform in the city'sacropolis; it was probably influenced by theForum of Caesar inRome. The second temple was dedicated toKore. 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 atBerytus, Herod had his sonsAlexander andAristobulus IV transported to Sebastia and executed by being strangled for treason.[36]
Theodosius II locates the execution ofJohn the Baptist by Herod at Sebastia, whileJosephus writes it took place inMachaerus east of theJordan River.[37] Early Christian tradition held that his body was interred in Sebastia, alongside the prophetsElisha andObadiah, and a cult around him and the tomb had formed before the 4th century BCE.[37]Philostorgius andRufinus recall thatJulian the Apostate (361–363) gave orders to burn therelics of the prophets in Sebastia, and that the ashes were recovered by monks from Jerusalem.[37] A church was built at the site of the tomb, containing what remained of them, and was visited byEgeria in 384.[37]
Sebastia was also made the site ofbishopric by the time ofCouncil of Chalcedon in 451, and was a dependency of thearchbishop ofCaesarea.John Rufus described the church and itsmartyrium 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."[37] The church and martyrium were still standing whenSaint Willibald visited the site in 723, but by 808 the church was reported to have "fallen to the ground" leaving behind only the tomb,[38] likely as a result of the749 Galilee earthquake. A depiction of the church survives in a mosaic at theChurch of St. Stephen inUmm ar-Rasas.[37]
Sebastia was the seat of a bishop in theCrusaderKingdom of Jerusalem. It is mentioned in the writings ofYaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), the Syrian geographer, who situates it as part of the military district ofFilastin in the province ofSyria, located two days from that city, in the Nablus District. He also writes, "There are here the tombs ofZakariyyah andYahya, his son, and of many other prophets and holy men."[39]
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.[40]
Niccolò da Poggibonsi, an Italian monk who visited Sebaste in 1347, wrote that the town was in ruins, and that only "someSaracens and a few Samaritans" lived there.[41]
Sebastia was incorporated into theOttoman Empire in 1517 with all of Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in thetax registers as being in theNahiya of Jabal Sami, part ofSanjak 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 5,500akçe.[42]
Accordiong to the French explorerVictor Guérin, Sebastia had less than a thousand inhabitants when he visited the village in 1870.[43] In 1870/1871 (1288AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in thenahiya (sub-district) of Wadi al-Sha'ir.[44]
In 1882, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine described Sebastia as "A large and flourishing village, of stone andmud 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 fewolives; a sort of recess exists on this side, which is all plough-land, in which stand the lowercolumns. 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 growingbarley, exists towards the west and at the top. The village itself is ill-built, and modern, with ruins of the crusaderCathedral of Saint John towards the northwest.[45]
Asarcophagus lies by the road on the north-east, but no rock-cuttombs 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 ruinedmill. 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 areGreek Christians."[45]
Between 1915 and 1938, Sebastia was served by two stations on the Afula–Nablus–Tulkarm branch line of theJezreel 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 byGottlieb Schumacher in 1908 and then byGeorge Andrew Reisner in 1909 and 1910; with the assistance of architect C.S. Fisher and D.G. Lyon.[46]
In the1922 census of Palestine, conducted by theBritish Mandate authorities,Sabastia had a population of 572; 10 Christians and 562 Muslim.[47] This had increased in the1931 census to 753; 2 Jews, 20 Christians and 731 Muslim, in a total of 191 houses.[48]
In the1945 statistics Sebastia had a population of 1,020; 980 Muslims and 40 Christians,[49] with 5,066dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[50] Of this, 1,284 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,493 used for cereals,[51] while 90 dunams were built-up land.[52]
The second expedition was known as the Joint Expedition, a consortium of 5 institutions directed byJohn Winter Crowfoot between 1931 and 1935; with the assistance ofKathleen Mary Kenyon,Eliezer Sukenik and G.M. Crowfoot. The leading institutions were the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, thePalestine Exploration Fund, and theHebrew University.[53][54][55] In the 1960s small scale excavations directed byFawzi Zayadine were carried out on behalf of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.[56]
In the wake of the1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the1949 Armistice Agreements, Sebastia came underJordanian rule. In 1961, the population was 1,345.[57]
Since theSix-Day War in 1967, Sebastia has been held underIsraeli military occupation, while the Palestinian Authority is the civil authority of the area.
In modern-day Sebastia, the village's mainmosque, known as theNabi Yahya Mosque, stands within the remains of a Crusadercathedral that is believed to be built upon the tombs of the prophetsElisha,Obediah and John the Baptist beside the public square.[58][59] There are alsoRoman royal tombs,[60] and a few medieval and manyOttoman era buildings which survive in a good state of preservation.[58] Jordanian archaeologists had also restored the Roman theater near the town.[61]
In late 1976, the Israeli settlers movement,Gush Emunim, attempted to establish a settlement at theOttoman train station. The Israeli government did not approve and the group that was removed from the site would later found the settlement ofElon Moreh adjacent toNablus.[62]
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.[6][63] In July 2023, 19-year-old Fawzi Makhalfeh was killed by Israeli soldiers at the village, to what thePalestinian Authority described as an execution, and residents described as an act of terrorism.[64][65]
In 2024, the Israeli military occupied the site, wounding villagers and illegally seizing land at the summit of the tell and the town square in the process. According to residents, the Israeli military has increased incursions, arrests, and violent seizure of land at the site since October 7, 2023.[65][66] In August 2024, the Israeli military briefly seized the village, an act described as a routine occurrence by residents.[67] In November 2025, Israel announced plans to expropriate 1,800 dunams (1.8 km2; 0.69 sq mi) of land around the archaeological site making it the largest archaeological site expropriated in the West Bank. The Israeli government said the move was to protect the site from looting; heritage organisation Emek Shaveh said that "The site itself is under Israeli both security and civilian control, which means that had they wanted to, the staff officer for archaeology could have allocated resources, personnel in order to oversee that the site was well taken care of, to keep away looters and so forth". The Palestinian Authority said the expropriation was a way of furthering annexation of the West Bank.[68][69]
Some of Sebastia's residents trace their origins toAzzun Atma and the vicinity ofJerusalem.[70]
TheArchdiocese of Sebastia is part of theGreek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.Theodosios (Hanna) has been the see'sarchbishop since 2005.[71]
Schurerp123 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).Pronglep283 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
Texts on Wikisource:With correspondence to modern geography | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Europe |
|   | ||||||||||||||||||
| Levant |
| |||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
