Samaria

, a city and country of Palestine, famous in sacred history. The inhabitants, called Samaritans , were composed of heathens and rebellious Jews, and on having a temple built there after the form of that of Jerusalem, a lasting enmity arose between the people of Judæa and of Samaria, so that no intercourse took place between the two countries, and the name of Samaritan became a word of reproach, and as it were a curse.