SAMARIA IS A mountainous region located between the mountains of Judea to the south, the Jezreel Valley to the north, the Jordan Valley to the east, and the coastal plain to the west. This study distinguishes between the southern part of Samaria, whose principal city is Nablus, and the northern region, whose centre was first in Sebaste, and later in Jinīn.

Early Islamic Period

Until the Roman period, most of Samaria's inhabitants were either pagans or Samaritans. In the second century bce, Samaria, the capital of the former Kingdom of Israel, became the base for a Greek military force. In the late first century bce, Herod established a new city in Samaria, and named it Sebaste in honour of his benefactor, the Roman emperor Augustus.

In 72 CE, the Romans established a colony in Neapolis, outside the site of Biblical Shechem. Magen posits that the population of the colony was not originally Samaritan but was composed of Roman veterans of various origins. However, during later periods, the Samaritan segment of the city, built near Mount Gerizim, the mountain venerated by the Samaritans, grew increasingly larger. By the beginning of the Byzantine period, Neapolis became the city with the largest Samaritan population and the main Samaritan religious centre, where many Samarian dignitaries and their religious leadership lived. Ever since its establishment as a Roman colony, Neapolis has overshadowed Sebaste as the regional centre. Subsequently, Sebaste's Samaritan community became less important, after which it disappears in sources from the Early Islamic period.

For about a century and a half before the Muslim conquest, the Samaritans, who constituted a major segment of the region's population, repeatedly rebelled against the Byzantine empire. These revolts apparently led to a significant decrease in the Samaritan population. However, two sources seem to indicate that the results of these revolts were less dramatic than usually believed. The anonymous pilgrim from Piacenza, who visited the area around 570, describes the Samaritan communities in the area around Sebaste: