Editing Samaria (section)

===Ancient city of Samaria/Sebaste===
{{Main|Samaria (ancient city)}}
[[File:Ruins of Samaria.jpg|thumb|250px|Tel Sebastia, 1925]]

The ancient site of [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]]-Sebaste covers the hillside overlooking the West Bank village of [[Sebastia, Nablus|Sebastia]] on the eastern slope of the hill.<ref name=Burgoyne>{{cite journal |title=Bayt al-Hawwari, a ''hawsh'' House in Sabastiya |author=Michael Hamilton Burgoyne and Mahmoud Hawari |journal=Levant |volume=37 |publisher=Council for British Research in the Levant, London |date=19 May 2005 |access-date=14 September 2007 |pages=57–80 |url=http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17419792 |doi=10.1179/007589105790088913 |s2cid=162363298 |archive-date=29 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229172809/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17419792 |url-status=live }}</ref> Remains have been found from the [[Canaan]]ite, [[Israelite]], [[Hellenistic]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] (including [[Herodian Dynasty|Herodian]]) and [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] periods.<ref name=Gwynne>{{cite web |title=Holy Land Blues |work=[[Al-Ahram Weekly]] |date=5–11 January 2006 |access-date=14 September 2007 |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/776/feature.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060311002825/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/776/feature.htm |archive-date=11 March 2006}}</ref>

Archaeological finds from Roman-era Sebaste, a site that was rebuilt and renamed by Herod the Great in 30 BC, include a colonnaded street, a temple-lined acropolis, and a lower city, where [[John the Baptist]] is believed to have been buried.<ref>{{cite web |last=Wiener |first=Noah |title=Spurned Samaria: Site of the capital of the Kingdom of Israel blighted by neglect |url=http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/spurned-samaria/ |publisher=Biblical Archaeology Society |date=6 April 2013 |access-date=23 January 2014 |archive-date=8 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140208210849/http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/spurned-samaria/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Harvard excavation of Samaria, which began in 1908, was headed by Egyptologist [[George Andrew Reisner]].<ref>''The Archaeology of Palestine'', W.F. Albright, 1960, p. 34</ref> The findings included Hebrew, Aramaic, cuneiform and Greek inscriptions, as well as pottery remains, coins, sculpture, figurines, scarabs and seals, faience, amulets, beads and glass.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=1355880 |title=Recent Progress in Palestinian Archaeology: Samaria-Sebaste III and Hazor I |first=W. F. |last=Albright |date=24 July 2017 |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=150 |issue=150 |pages=21–25 |doi=10.2307/1355880 |s2cid=163393362}}</ref> The joint British-American-Hebrew University excavation continued under [[John Winter Crowfoot]] in 1931–35, during which time some of the chronology issues were resolved. The round towers lining the acropolis were found to be Hellenistic, the street of columns was dated to the 3–4th century, and 70 inscribed potsherds were dated to the early 8th century.<ref>Albright, pp.39–40</ref>

In 1908–1935, remains of luxury furniture made of wood and ivory were discovered in Samaria, representing the Levant's most important collection of ivory carvings from the early first millennium BC. Despite theories of their [[Phoenicia]]n origin, some of the letters serving as fitter's marks are in [[Israelian Hebrew|Hebrew]].<ref name="research-projects.uzh.ch"/>

As of 1999 three series of coins have been found that confirm [[Sanballat the Horonite|Sinuballat]] was a governor of Samaria. Sinuballat is best known as an adversary of [[Nehemiah]] from the [[Book of Nehemiah]] where he is said to have sided with [[Tobiah the Ammonite]] and [[Geshem the Arabian]]. All three coins feature a warship on the front, likely derived from earlier [[Sidonian]] coins. The reverse side depicts the Persian King in his [[kandys]] robe facing down a [[lion]] that is standing on its hind legs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edelman |first1=Diana Vikander |title=The Origins of the Second Temple: Persian Imperial Policy and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem |publisher=Equinox |page=41}}</ref>