Sebastia, Nablus
Sebastia | ||
---|---|---|
Governorate Nablus | | |
Government | ||
• Type | Municipality (from 1997) | |
• Head of Municipality | Ma’amun Harun Kayed[1] | |
Area | ||
• Total | 4,810 dunams (4.8 km2 or 1.9 sq mi) | |
Population (2017)[2] | ||
• Total | 3,205 | |
• Density | 670/km2 (1,700/sq mi) |
Sebastia (
Sebastia is believed to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the West Bank.[4][5][6] In the 9th century BCE, it was known as Samaria, and served as the capital city of the northern Kingdom of Israel until it was destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire around 720 BCE.[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 by Herod the Great, who renamed it Sebastia in honor of emperor Augustus.[9][10] Since the middle of the 4th century, the town has been identified by Christians and Muslims as the burial site of John the Baptist, whose purported grave is today part of Nabi Yahya Mosque.[11][6] Conquered by Muslims in the 7th century, the present-day village of Sebastia is home to a number of important archaeological sites.[12][13]
Etymology
In ancient times, Sebastia was known as Shomron (Hebrew: שומרון, romanized: Šomron) which translates into "watch" or "watchman" in English.[14] The city bearing the ancient Hebrew name of Shomron later gave its name to the central region of the Land of Israel, surrounding the city of Shechem (modern-day Nablus).[15] In Greek, Shomron became known as Samaria.
According to first-century historian Josephus, Herod the Great renamed the city Sebastia in honor of the Roman emperor Augustus.[16] The Greek sebastos, "venerable", is a translation of the Latin epithet augustus.[17] The modern village name preserves the Roman-period name of Sebaste.
History and archaeology
Between 880-723/22 BCE, Samaria was the capital of the northern
On the
Kingdom of Israel/Samaria
In the 9th and the 8th centuries BCE, Samaria was capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel.[20] According to the Hebrew Bible, 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 Tirzah, 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 the
Omri is thought to have granted the
In 720 BCE, Samaria fell to the Neo-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, and Achaemenid (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 syructure with the "palace adorned with ivory" mentioned in the Bible (1 Kings 22:39).
The
Hellenistic period
Samaria was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, and was destroyed again by Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus in 108 BCE.[28]
Roman period
After Pompey rebuilt the town in the year 63 BCE, Hellenized Samaritans and the descendants of Macedonian soldiers inhabited the city.[29]
In 27 BCE, Samaria was rebuilt by
Crusader/Ayyubid period
Sebastia was the seat of a bishop in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. 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, 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."[33]
Saladin came to Sebastia during his raid of central Palestine in 1184. Sebastia's bishop then released eighty Muslim captives to ensure the town's safety.[34]
Niccolò Poggibonsi, an Italian monk who visited Sebaste in 1347, wrote that the town was in ruins, and that only 'some Saracens and a few Samaritans" lived there.[35]
Ottoman period
Sebastia was incorporated into the
The French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village in 1870 and found it to have less than a thousand inhabitants.[37]
In 1870/1871 (1288
In 1882, the
A sarcophagus 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."[39]
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 in 1908 and then by George Andrew Reisner in 1909 and 1910; with the assistance of architect C.S. Fisher and D.G. Lyon.[40]
British Mandate period
In the 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Sabastia had a population of 572; 10 Christians and 562 Muslim.[41] This had increased in the 1931 census to 753; 2 Jews, 20 Christians and 731 Muslim, in a total of 191 houses.[42]
In the 1945 statistics Sebastia had a population of 1,020; 980 Muslims and 40 Christians,[43] with 5,066 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[44] Of this, 1,284 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,493 used for cereals,[45] while 90 dunams were built-up land.[46]
The second expedition was known as the Joint Expedition, a consortium of 5 institutions directed by
Jordanian period
In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Sebastia came under Jordanian rule. In 1961, the population was 1,345.[51]
Post-1967
Since the Six-Day War 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
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 Nablus.[56]
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][57]
Demography
Some of Sebastia's residents trace their origins to Azzun Atma and the vicinity of Jerusalem.[58]
Ecclesiastical see
The
See also
- Cities of the ancient Near East
- Short chronology timeline
- List of modern names for biblical place names
References
- ^ Municipalities Archived 2007-02-21 at the Wayback Machine Nablus Municipality
- ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
- ^ "Nablus". Retrieved 2007-09-14.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Sebastia". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
- ^ S2CID 241784278.
- ^ a b c "Sebastia | Nablus, Palestinian Territories Attractions". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ISBN 978-1-64602-029-4.
- ISSN 0075-8914.
- ISSN 0031-0328.
- S2CID 240589831.
- ^ "General Audience of 29 August 2012 | BENEDICT XVI". www.vatican.va. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
- ^ United Nations Development Programme (23 April 2003). "Spain helps restore Sebastia, Palestinian town with historic sites". United Nations. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ For excavations conducted during the Ottoman period, see Reisner, G.A.; Fisher, C.S.; Lyon, D.G. (1924). Harvard Excavations at Samaria, 1908–1910 (2 vols. ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.. See also: The Augusteum at Samaria-Sebaste
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-36966-5.
- ^ "Samaria | historical region, Palestine | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-02-26.
- ^ Josephus, Antiquities (Book xv, chapter 246).
- ^ "Sebastian". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ a b c d Zertal, 2004, pp. 461- 463-464. Re-accessed 4 Oct 2023.
- ^ Dauphin, 1998, pp. 766–7
- ^ S2CID 241784278, retrieved 2021-12-22
- ^ Omri, king of the 10 tribes of Israel, built the city and settled his men in the Old City, in accordance with the account relayed in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 16:24). Compare Josephus, Antiquities (Book viii, chapter xii, verse 5)
- ^ Boling, R.G. (1975). Judges: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. (Anchor Bible, Volume 6a), Page 185
- ^ Boulanger, Richard (1966). The Middle East (Hachette World Guides, Librarie Hachette, Paris), Page 643
- S2CID 128814117.
- hdl:10520/EJC111399.
- Phoenician, which was widely current in antiquity. It is very different from the so-called square character, in which the existing Hebrew manuscripts of the Bibleare written."
- ^ Noegel, p.396
- ^ Sebaste, Holy Land Atlas Travel and Tourism Agency.
- ^ OCLC 1294393934.
- ISSN 2084-6762.
- Wars of the Jews) i.xxi.§2
- ^ Josephus Flavius Antiquities book 16 chapter 11 para 7
- ^ Le Strange, 1890, p. 523.
- ^ Benjamin Z. Kedar. “Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant.” In James M. Powell, editor. Muslims under Latin Rule, 1100-1300. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985. p. 153
- ISSN 0031-0328.
- ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 129
- ^ Guérin, 1875, pp. 188–96
- ^ Grossman, David (2004). Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. p. 253.
- ^ a b Conder and Kitchener, 1882, SWP II, pp. 160-161
- ^ Reisner, G. A.; C.S. Fisher, and D.G. Lyon (1924). Harvard Excavations at Samaria, 1908–1910. (Vol 1: Text [1], Vol 2: Plans and Plates [2]), Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press
- ^ Barron, 1923, Table IX, Sub-district of Nablus, p. 24
- ^ Mills, 1932, p. 64
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 19
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 61
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 107
- ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 157
- ISBN 0-9502279-0-0
- ^ Crowfoot, J. W.; K.M. Kenyon and E.L. Sukenik (1942). The Buildings at Samaria (Samaria-Sebaste. Reports of the work of the joint expedition in 1931–1933 and of the British expedition in 1935; no.1). London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ^ Crowfoot, J. W.; K.M. Kenyon and G.M. Crowfoot (1957). The Objects from Samaria (Samaria; Sebaste, reports of the work of the joint expedition in 1931;1933, and of the British expedition in 1935; no.3). London: Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ^ Zayadine, F (1966). "Samaria-Sebaste: Clearance and Excavations (October 1965 – June 1967)". Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, vol. 12, pp. 77–80
- ^ Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics, 1964, p. 26
- ^ S2CID 162363298. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ Pringle, 1998, pp. 283 -290
- ^ United Nations Development Programme (23 April 2003). "Spain helps restore Sebastia, Palestinian town with historic sites". United Nations. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ Netzer, E., The Augusteum at Samaria-Sebaste — A New Outlook (Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies), vol. 19 of the Michael Avi-Yonah Memorial Volume, Jerusalem 1987, pp. 97 - 105. See also article, Sebaste: Tribute to an Emperor.
- S2CID 144580732.
- S2CID 162363298. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
- ^ Grossman, D. (1986). "Oscillations in the Rural Settlement of Samaria and Judaea in the Ottoman Period". in Shomron studies. Dar, S., Safrai, S., (eds). Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishing House. p. 352
- ^ Maria C. Khoury (2 January 2006). "A Rare Day for Orthodoxy in the Holy Land". Orthodox Christian News. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
Bibliography
- Anon (1908). "Excavations at Samaria". S2CID 193255908.
- Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
- Conder, C.R.; Kitchener, H.H. (1882). The Survey of Western Palestine: Memoirs of the Topography, Orography, Hydrography, and Archaeology. Vol. 2. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ISBN 0-860549-05-4.
- Government of Jordan, Department of Statistics (1964). First Census of Population and Housing. Volume I: Final Tables; General Characteristics of the Population (PDF).
- Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
- Guérin, V. (1875). Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine (in French). Vol. 2: Samarie, pt. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie Nationale.
- Hadawi, S. (1970). Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine. Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center.
- Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
- Le Strange, G. (1890). Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500. London: Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
- Palmer, E.H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
- ISBN 0-521-39037-0.
- S2CID 163234112.
- ISBN 9004137564.
Further reading
- Tappy, R. E. (1992). The Archaeology of Israelite Samaria: Vol. I, Early Iron Age through the Ninth Century BCE. Harvard Semitic Studies 44. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press.
- Tappy, R. E. (2001). The Archaeology of Israelite Samaria: Vol. II, The Eighth Century BCE. Harvard Semitic Studies 50. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.
External links
- Welcome To Sabastiya
- Sebastiya, Welcome to Palestine
- Survey of Western Palestine, Map 11: IAA, Wikimedia commons
- Sabastiya, aerial photo, Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem ARIJ
- Development Priorities and Needs in Sabastiya, ARIJ
- Municipality of Sabastiya - Nablus Governorate - Palestine Archived 2013-11-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Throne villages, with Al Kayed Palace in Sabastiya, RIWAQ
- Samaria (city), biblewalks
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- "Samaria". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- Vailhé, S. (1913). "Samaria". Catholic Encyclopedia.
- "