Samaria - Acropolis

From the northwest corner of the forum in Samaria a path runs up to the acropolis, partly excavated in 1908-11 and 1931-35. We come first to an Israelite wall (ninth-eighth century B.C.), in front of which are a Hellenistic reinforcing wall with a massive round tower (third century) and a Roman theater. Continuing up to the left of the tower, we come to a monumental flight of steps, originally leading up to the Herodian temple of Augustus (c. 30 B.C.), of which no trace remains.

The temple stood on the site of an earlier palace, begun by King Omri (882-871 B.C.) and extended in magnificent style by Omri's son Ahab (871-852 B.C.) and his Phoenician wife Jezebel. In the palace were a cult effigy of Astarte and a temple of Baal (1 Kings 16,32-33). The excavators of the palace found a number of pieces of ivory - confirming the reference by the prophet Amos (6,1-4) to "them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria" who "lie upon beds of ivory" - and 75 pottery jars containing tax rolls dating from the time of King Jeroboam II (787-747 B.C.).