For a period, Samaria was capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Roman General, Pompey, annexed the territory of Samaria to the Roman province of Syria in 63 B.C. Later the Emperor Augustus gave the capital of Samaria to Herod the Great (37 B.C. - 4 A.D.). A grateful Herod rebuilt much of the city and renamed it Sebaste, the Greek for Augustus, in his honour.

It is this city that Jesus passed through on His way to Jerusalem Luke 17:11-19 and it is to this city that Philip travelled, as persecution of the early Church increased in Jerusalem Acts 8: 3-25