(shohm-ROHN) n. Samaria. Capital of the Northern Kingdom of ancient Israel. The later Samaritans were a mixed ethnic group descended from Jews deported by the Assyrians in the 8th century B.C. and other peoples ruled by the Assyrians, followed a religion combining pagan and Jewish elements. By the first century most Jews regarded them as pariahs. Eg., Matt. 10:5.

Was built as the capital of Israel, the northern kingdom, in the ninth century B.C.E. and fell in 721 B.C.E., after which leading members were deported; exiles from elsewhere were settled here and mixed with the Israelites who remained; their descendants are known as Samaritans.

Samaria, or the Shomron (, Standard Tiberian ; Arabic: سامريّون, or ألسامرة, as-Samarah – also known as جبال نابلس, Jibal Nablus; Greek: Σαμαρεία) is a geographic term used for the mountainous region between the Galilee to the north and Judea to the south. It is the name of natural, historical and political regions. It is the central region of the Biblical Land of Israel.