Some 70 of Ahab's sons were slain at Samaria on Jehu's orders. The site was a center of an extensive wine and oil production area. 2 Kings 6:19 Elisha said to them, "This is not the way, neither is this the city. In the New Testament, the territory of Samaria was where Jesus met the "woman at the well" to whom he revealed his identity as the Messiah. Ahab killed sheep and cattle for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth Gilead. "I," said Ahab, "will let you go with this covenant." The famine was severe in Samaria. Acts 8:25 They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News to many villages of the Samaritans. Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Its bishop attended the Synod of Jerusalem in 536 A.D.The Church of John, a Crusading structure beside the modern village, is now a Moslem mosque. Acts 8:9 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one. At Samaria's famous gate, Ahab met his ally and son-in-law, Jehoshaphat of Judah, to hear the dramatic words of the prophet Micaiah (1 Kings 22:10). There is nothing intrinsically improbable in this. Samaria’s hilly geography matches the ups and downs of its history. (2 Kings 17:5; 2 Kings 18:9 f; Ant, IX, xiv, 1). A Roman colony was settled here by Septimius Severus. To the West the hills are lower, and from the crest a wide view is obtained over the Plain of Sharon, with the yellow ribbon of sand that marks the coast line, and the white foam on the tumbling billows; while away beyond stretch the blue waters of the Mediterranean. While immediately below the palace, cut into the face of the bedrock platform, there are two rock-cut tomb chambers that have only recently been recognized and attributed to the kings of Israel. That the Samaritans were accustomed to worship in Jerusalem is perhaps implied by one phrase in the letter sent to the Persian king: "The Jews that came up from thee are come to us unto Jerus" (Ezra 4:12). Then the country West of the Jordan was divided into three portions: Judea in the South, Galilee in the North, and Samaria in the middle. He extended, strengthened and adorned it on a scale of great magnificence, calling it Sebaste (= Augusta) in honor of the emperor, a name which survives in the modern Sebastiyeh. It was the residence of the northern kingdom's most famous ruler, King Ahab, and his infamous queen, Jezebel. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. His turning of the water into trenches to undermine the foundations could only refer to the suburbs under the hill. According to Josephus, on the north the Hill Country descends to a very steep 2000 foot slope into the Valley in the Upper Galilee region. 2 Chronicles 18:2 After certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. Under Herod the city became the capital of the Roman administrative district of Samaria, which was one of the subdivisions of the Roman province of Syria Iudaea, the other two being Judea and Galilee. Colonists were brought from other parts to take the places of the exiles (2 Kings 17:24 Ezra 4:10). The interest of these in the temple at Jerusalem, the use of which they may now have shared with the Jews, is proved by 2 Chronicles 34:9. will they fortify themselves? Hosea 10:7 Samaria and her king float away, like a twig on the water. On the West the coast plain as far as Acre belonged to Judea. But the gradual descent of the land to the West with long, wide valleys, offered inviting avenues from the plain.