=Samaria's Name.= Samaria, situated in the midst of a broad, fertile plain, opening toward the sea and commanding far-reaching, glorious vistas, was equally representative of northern Israel. Both capitals were raised to the commanding position which they enjoyed, not as the result of chance, but through the deliberate choice of a strong and able sovereign. In I Kings 16:24 it is stated that Omri, the founder of the most powerful military dynasty of northern Israel, "bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill and named the city Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill." Whatever be its historical derivation, the name Shomeron, or Samaria, is eminently appropriate, for it means watch-tower. =Its Situation.= The hill lies on the eastern side of the Wady esh-Shair or Barley Vale, a wide and beautiful valley, which comes up from the Plain of Sharon. Opposite Samaria it broadens out and unites with several shallow valleys, which come down from the north and northeast. Along the Barley Vale runs the great highway which leads northwest from Shechem and central Israel to the Plain of Esdraelon and Phœnicia. Another highway runs directly north, past the Plain of Dothan to northern Israel and Damascus. Samaria lay near the border line between the powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It was, however, a little south and east of the centre of northern Israel. Its gates were wide open to the civilization and commerce which swept up and down the coast plains. From the city's heights there was a fine view of the Mediterranean, which represented that larger world into close touch with which Omri aimed to bring his people. =Its Military Strength.= The city was built on an elongated, isolated hill,^{(59)} rising on the west between three and four hundred feet above the plain. The hill descends precipitously on three sides; on the east it is connected with the hills by a neck of land which lies about two hundred feet above the surrounding plain. As in the case of Jerusalem, these surrounding valleys were the source of its military strength. The hill is about three-fourths of a mile in length. On its top rises a large acropolis,^{(60)} nearly round and about a third of a mile in diameter. In the Roman period this acropolis was surrounded by a wide terrace, with a colonnade about one and one-half miles in circumference. On the top of this rounded hill there was ample space for a large and powerful city. Surrounded, like Jerusalem, by a strong wall, it was practically impregnable.