The word Samaria, mentioned 109 times in the Old Testament, can mean a variety of things: a specific city, a provincial area, and the provincial capital of several empires i.e. Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Seleucid empires.
After Solomon’s death (ca. 931 BC), the kingdom of Israel was divided; Judah to the south and Israel to the north. When King Omri came to power (884-873 BC), he created a new capital for Israel in Samaria. Samaria, from the Hebrew word Somron, means something like “castle” or “guard post”. For the next 150+ years, the city was the capital of the northern kingdom, apparently reaching a size of 150 acres (as large as Jerusalem in Hezekiah's time).
Herod the Great rebuilt Samaria during his reign and renamed it Sebaste, the Greek equivalent of Augustus, in honor of the Roman Emperor.
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