in gratitude to his Imperial patron. Herod filled it with a colony of six thousand 
veterans, made it a powerful fortress, and surrounded it with a strong wall, twenty 
stadia in circuit; reserving in its midst a “ Sacred place,” in which he raised a temple 
in honour of Augustus! famed for its architecture. Such appears to have been the 
Samaria of the New Testament, in which Philip preached the gospel, and where a 
church was formed by the Apostles. 
Samaria early became an Episcopal city. Its Bishop, Marius, or Marinus, attended 
the Council of Nice (a.d. 325). The history of the Crusades adds little to that of 
Sebaste. It had a Latin Bishop in 1155. Saladin passed through it in 1184, on 
his retreat from Kerak. In the Middle Ages it was scarcely mentioned more than 
as an important place, from its situation, well watered, and abounding in gardens, 
olive-groves, and vineyards. It still contains a few Greek Christians: and a titular 
Bishop of Sebaste resides in the Greek Convent at Jerusalem. 
