Shechem was a commercial centre due to its position in the middle of vital trade routes through the region, which have made it the capital of Samaria to this day. It traded in local grapes, olives, wheat, livestock, and pottery between the middle Bronze Age and the late Hellenic Period (1900-100 BCE).

After its foundation, the city was granted extensive lands, mostly inhabited by Samaritans. The territory of Neapolis bordered on the territories of Sebastiya, Scythopolis (Beth Shean), Pella, and Perea (Transjordan) in the east, Jerusalem in the south, and Lydda (Lod), Antipatris, and Caesarea in the west. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the formerly Jewish toparchy of Acra-batene was annexed to Neapolis.

At the beginning of the second century CE, work began on several large building projects in Neapolis, among them a hippodrome and a theatre, as well as on streets and other public edifices. An inscription on the base of a marble tripod found at Shechem refers to its dedication to the temple of Zeus.

In 244 CE, Philip the Arab became emperor and raised Neapolis’ status to that of a Roman colony: Colonia Flavia Lulia Sergia Neapolis.

During his reign, coins were minted and inscribed in Latin and feature all of the hallmarks of a colony, including a depiction of the colony’s foundation ceremony at Neapolis. City coins from the second half of the third century CE indicate that units of the Roman army were stationed there at the time. The amphitheatre and tombstones of Roman soldiers discovered at Neapolis may well date to this period.

The city has four refugee camps: Balata, Old Askar New Askar and El Ein camp. The second Intifada see the Israeli Army besiege the city, invading it many times, causing human prejudices along with economical asphyxiation.

ON ROMAN NABLUS

Although various finds had come to light in the area beginning in the twentieth century and various studies of the city were made in the ten years following the 1967 Six-Day War, vigorous investigations and systematic excavations of Roman Neapolis only began in 1970, under the direction of Dr. Ibrahim el-Fanni. Excavations that continued until the end of 1988 revealed a theatre, a hippodrome, an amphitheatre, the city’s main street, water systems, parts of a wall, and burial grounds.

City Plan and Building :

Neapolis was built on the northern slope of Mount Gerzim. Its estimated length was 1,500 metres, its breadth 700 metres, and its area approximately 250 acres. Its northern border ran along the present-day Faisal Street. Outside the city limits was the main east-west road linking the eastern and western approaches to Neapolis. North of this road was the main cemetery, which extended over the slopes of Mount Ebal. South of the road, a stretch of the city wall and tombstones belonging to Roman soldiers were discovered. A hippodrome and amphitheatre were found in the west. They were apparently built outside the city but very close to the walls. North of the hippodrome was a magnificent tomb. The road seems to have run between it and the hippodrome. The city’s southern border is also identifiable. Outside the city limits, a clearly discernible line of quarries extends almost the length of the city, the ‘Ain’. From that point, the city wall ran eastward, up to the Roman theatre at its southern end.

At the south-western edge of the city was a large water system, known today as Ras el-Ain. It was a large Roman structure that supplied water to the city through a stone channel. In addition, there are several springs in the city that include, in particular, Ain Qaryun, in the town centre, and Ein Dafna, at its eastern edge.

The wall ran eastward to a gate erected on the site of the propylaeum, or colonnade, at the beginning of the ascent to Mount Gerzim. From this gate, the wall continued to the main city gate situated on the site presently occupied by the military government headquarters. Here, too, was the city s major spring, Ein Dafna. Judging from the positions of the burial sites in the area, the Roman city extended right up to the edge of the present-day new Samaritan neighbourhood and the Muslim cemetery in south-western Shechem. Excavations revealed the main street that bisects the city from east to west, it was approximately 11 metres wide and paved with fitted flagstones. Beneath the street ran an aqueduct that probably brought water from Ein Dafna within the city walls. Another street runs south from the middle of the main street, leading to a semicircular structure, which Able interpreted as a nymphaeum. Excavations at this site, uncovered the Roman theatre.

The Theatre :

The theatre was built in the second century CE on the northern slope of Mount Gerzim, on the outskirts of the Roman city. It is surrounded by a massive ashlar masonry wall (2.6 metres thick) pierced by the entrances to the theatre. The diameter of the theatre (c.110 metres) makes it one of the largest Roman theatres discovered in the country to date. The theatre remained n use until the Byzantine period, when the orchestra was turned into a pool, and the theatre was used for nautical games, a common phenomenon in the Roman world. Most of its masonry was plundered in the Mameluke period and reused to build the city of Nablus.

The Hippodrome :

The hippodrome was built at the western approach to the city, on the slope of Mount Ebal, aligned east-west. The excavator believes it originally stood outside the city limits. Its estimated dimensions were 79 by 380 metres. The arena was found covered with stone chips. There were eleven entrances for horses. A great number of cells were hewn into the southern side of the blocks of seats; some of these accommodated horses. The cells produced numerous finds of coins, on the basis of which, the construction of the hippodrome is to be dated to the second century CE; it continued in use until the first half of the third century CE.

The Amphitheatre:

The amphitheatre was superimposed on the circular end of the hippodrome in the third century CE, when Neapolis was elevated to the status of a Roman colony. It was built of reused stones and its construction was associated with the Roman army units then stationed at Neapolis. Its size is estimated at 95 by 76 metres. The cells adjoining the corridor were used as cages for the animals participating in the events.

The Mosaic:

One of the most beautiful Roman mosaics discovered in this country was uncovered in the centre of the city and dates to the third century CE, the time of Emperor Philip the Arab. It is coloured, featuring flora, fauna, and human figures.

Burials:

Neapolis’ main cemetery lay on the southern and eastern slops of Mount Ebal. As the rock of the mountain is quite soft, it was not possible to carve tomb facades. A mausoleum, built of fine ashlars blocks, was found sealed by a stone door. Its face is magnificent and fashioned in the likeness of a Hellenistic-Roman temple. It contained ten sarcophagi. During the Roman period, a new site was used on the north-western slope of Mount Gerzim. This cemetery stretched from the spring of Ras el-Ain, along the Muslim cemetery and Samaritan quarter, up to the present-day Rafidya neighbourhood. More than thirty graves, mostly with sarcophagi, have been discovered.

THE OLD CITY

The old city of Nablus today may not have retained the most spectacular visible monuments seen in nearby historic cities such as Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, or Cairo. However, and in spite of a series of natural and man-made disasters that destroyed the city many times over the centuries, its dense architectural fabric, dynamic urban spaces, narrow streets and alleyways, and distinctive stone facades tell thousands of stories about its rich and diverse history. Its physical beauty is low-key, mysterious, and somehow cunning.

Once you arrive at the centre of Nablus, you immediately recognize the invisible borders of the old city. Concealed behind modern facades and commercial clutter, the many entry-points draw you to the labyrinth of alleyways and footpaths that encircle its famous harat  (such as Al Qaryoun, Al Yasmineh), historic landmarks, exceptional khans and souqs, and amazing lifestyle.

Walk the narrow and the not-so-narrow streets, and you will only be a few steps inside the heart of the old city, where a different world unfolds. Throbbing, beating, this heart echoes the loud pulse of the Nabulsi buying and selling their meat and vegetables, spices and pulses, sweets and bread, cloths and kitchenware. Historically, Nablus has always been a key centre for trade-locally, regionally, and internationally. During the peak of the cotton trade, it played a leading part in the export of this once-important local produce to Europe. Over the centuries, it also played a major political role with various external powers.

The old city has five main commercial streets. Its spine, Al Nasr Street, connects it to the east and west sides of the expanded modern city, with parallel and connecting smaller streets that complement its exceptional khans. In spite of the current recession, the streets, lanes, and souqs are still rich with merchandise, busy with shoppers, and buzzing with life.

Surrounded by densely populated residential quarters, there are 12 historic mosques in the old city (built or rebuilt during the Omari, Ayyubid, or Ottoman eras), two churches and a Samaritan synagogue, in addition to a number of mazarat, maqamat, and zawaya.

Traditionally known for natural soap-making from olive oil, the old city contains over 20 soap factories. Some are still in use, others are abandoned, and sadly, three were devastated during the Israeli invasion in 2002. Although the manufacturing methods have changed slightly over the years, soap made in Nablus is still renowned for its purity and is exported throughout markets in the Middle East and some factories offer tours of their soap making process.

Of its eight traditional hammams, only two recently restored Turkish Baths are in use.

The population of the old city today is approximately 20,000. Most of the original residents of the historic core moved out gradually since the earthquake of 1927 and, as in many historic cities in the region, the wealthier groups of the society moved out and were replaced by poorer groups from the periphery.

 
Telling the story of al Balad al Qadema (the old city), one cannot ignore the sadness and grief suffered daily by the Nabulsi in and around the old city, especially in the last few years. The recent wilful destruction of many valuable historic houses and monuments as a result of indiscriminate shelling and bombing from land and air to the historic core, shocked not only the foundations of its urban fabric, but the hearts, feelings, and dreams of the inhabitants. The destruction still continues in varying degrees of fierceness.

Nevertheless, with true Nabulsi resilience and spirit, the crowds re-gather in the old streets and squares after every assault to reclaim their beloved and beautiful, but scarred, city.

SEBASTIYA

Sebastiya is an ode that evokes the poetic allure of transience and immortality.
Myth and history interweave in a single magical moment in Sebastiya. Perched on a mountaintop surrounded by a range of mountains of olives that cascade into the endless horizon, Sebastiya is a typical Hellenistic/Roman/Byzantine and Crusader fortress. The spectacular panorama that the ancient capital of Samaria commands rolls up the mountain and into the acropolis. The expansive green fields of wheat, olive orchards and, at this season, the pale pink-white blossom of the almond and apricot trees swell between the columns of the Roman Cardo, the collapsed apses of John the Baptist Crusader church, and the still remains of Hellenistic watchtowers.

The tragic figure of John the Baptist, known in the Quran as Yahya, dominates the sleepy town. Of equal importance is the seditious seductress Salome, the incestuous, adulterous Herodia, and the Roman king, Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. Sebastiya provides the stage where Salome danced the notorious Dance of the Seven Veils that culminated with her request that John the Baptist be beheaded. Though killed in Machaerus, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, the body was moved and is believed to be buried in the great cathedral in the lower town. Until the late-eighteenth century, it had five Greek Orthodox churches. From Byzantine times, a Greek Orthodox bishopric.

John the Baptist’s tomb is venerated in the Moslem tradition as prophet Yahya. The sanctuary may be visited in the eighteenth-century town mosque built within the precincts of the Crusader cathedral. In accordance with Moslem tradition, stipulating the exclusion of tombs from inside the mosque, Yahya’s sanctuary stands alone in what has become an open courtyard of what once constituted the huge Crusader church. The Crusader arches that once supported the ceiling soar to the open sky under the towering, elegant Ottoman minaret ... An Ottoman dome over a square chamber in the shade of an orange tree marks the tomb. The Ottoman mosque stands in the eastern side of the cathedral.

Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, are important figures in the Quran. Two chapters, Al-Imran and Mariam describe the miraculous birth of John, Yahya, and stress the special relationship between the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, who are identified as matrilineal cousins. Once the Virgin learns of her own pregnancy, she pays a visit to Elizabeth, now six months pregnant, who lived in Ein Karem. Giotto’s painting, the Salutation, immortalizes the tenderness of the cousins. In the Quran, the precursor of Jesus has a name specially coined for him, Yahya, the man who shall live again.

The sculptures illustrating the biblical narrative have been removed. In a military raid on Sebastiya’s museum, the statues of John the Baptist, the Herodian Feast, and Salome carrying the head of John the Baptist were moved to an Israeli museum.

Once a thriving city, Sebastiya was the site reputedly chosen by the Caliph Omar for the construction of the third mosque in Palestine. But it has fallen into total disrepair, wild weeds have sprouted everywhere.

Vestiges of days of glory abound in the plethora of Mameluke and Ottoman family compounds. A generic Palestinian word, al Qaser  designates such compounds. Each extended family lived in the same traditional single-room-style peasant home in which the upper loft was kept for human use and the lower floor reserved for chicken, sheep, the cow, the donkey, and the mule. Unlike peasant villages, in the big city of Sebastiya, all the houses of the families belonging to the same clan were built inside one single large edifice: al Qaser. A few such clan fortresses give the city its special character and remind us of the raging Qays/Yaman local battles in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Smaller houses, single-family dwellings, do exist. On the southern wall of the cathedral/mosque, a house combining Arabic and Crusader architecture has been naively restored and is open to tourists.

Strolling in the picturesque winding alleys, one passes by a twenty-metre deep pit. This is the site that marks the royal Roman cemetery. A few huge stone sarcophagi carved with lion heads and other mythological scenes remind us of the fact that the Arab/Crusader town is built on Byzantine, Roman, and Greek foundations.

Roman Sebastiya is a big city composed of a lower and upper city. The lower city was used as the commercial and living quarters, and lies underneath the extant Arabic town. The acropolis, customary among the Greeks and Romans, was exclusively reserved for religious edifices. Preliminary archaeological research has focused on the top of the mountain. A path passes through well-tended fruit-bearing orchards and circulates past the church of St John the Baptist, past the remains of the temple of Augustus. The scattered stones and capitals of the Greco-Roman amphitheatre buttress the Hellenistic tower.

THE SAMARITANS

Everyone's heard of the Samaritans, mostly from Jesus' parable of the "Good Samaritan," but few know who they are. In truth, the Samaritans were simply an offshoot of early Judaism. They were among the remnant who remained after the Assyrians deported the leading citizens of the Northern Kingdom of Israel into exile and they attempted to maintain the worship of Yahweh near Shechem. Their faith is epitomized by five tenets:

• Belief in God as unique and beyond time and space.

• Acknowledgment of Moses as the exalted prophet of God.

• Acceptance of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, as the only inspired word of God (although their version contained many variants from the recognized Hebrew text); they rejected the rest of the Hebrew scriptures.

• Recognition of Mount Gerizim at Shechem as the holy mountain of God, a belief based on its associations with Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Joshua (referenced earlier).

• Expectation of a final day of reward and punishment.

Forbidden to participate in Temple rituals, the Samaritans erected their own temple on Mount Gerizim in accordance with their version of the Tenth Commandment which decrees: "On Mount Gerizim (you shall) build there an altar to the Lord your God." Our main reference is Josephus Flavius who stated that the Samaritan leader Sanballat, built an exact replica of the Temple in Jerusalem on Mount Gerizim. He further offers a touching tale of romance to explain Sanballat's building project: His daughter Nikasso married Menashe, brother of the high priest in Jerusalem, and when Menashe was expelled for marrying outside the faith, his new father-in-law built him a temple of his own up north. But there was a practical basis for Sanballat's action too: He and the Jewish leader Nehemiah were involved in a power struggle. Sanballat figured that if he built a religious center of ritual sacrifice on Gerizim, it would draw people away from Jerusalem and increase his political influence.

Around the time of Jesus, the Samaritans were persecuted by Pontius Pilate and it was this incident that prompted his removal from office in 36 AD, after ten years in office. He seized a number of Samaritans who had assembled on Mount Gerizim as a result of a rumor that sacred vessels from the tabernacle had been hidden there by Moses. Pilate had some the ringleaders executed and the Samaritans complained to Vitellius, governor of Syria and Pilate's superior. The charges against Pilate where, according to a letter quoted by Philo: "corruptibility, violence, robberies, ill-treatment of the people, grievances, continuous executions without even the form of a trial, endless and intolerable cruelties." Vitellius ordered Pilate to answer to the emperor. But, before Pilate reached Rome, the reigning emperor, Tiberius, had died. The outcome of the affair is unknown. According to Christian tradition, Pilate and his wife were later converted to Christianity and martyred. However, the 4th-century AD church historian Eusebius recorded a report that Pilate committed suicide. Paul Maier, in his book "Pontius Pilate" expresses the theory that he simply retired and lived out the remainder of his life on a government pension.

During the Middle Ages there were tens of thousands of Samaritans, but, around the turn of the century there were only about 100. However, their numbers increased when Samaritan men married Jewish women who became Samaritans. Today, there are two communities, each numbering about 300: one in the district of Haret es Samira in the western part of Nablus, and another in Holon, south of Tel Aviv. The Pentatuech, the five books of Moses are holy to them (though their version varies slightly from that of the Jews), but not the other writings of the Old Testament, and their practices are in many ways similar to those of Jews. Samaritan tradition says their people were the tribes of Ephraim and Menasseh, who stayed behind in Israel when the other eight tribes of the northern kingdom were exiled to Assyria around 720 BC. Many events that Jews associate with Jerusalem, Samaritans connect to Mount Gerizim. They believe that it was the place chosen by God and the navel of the earth; it existed before the Creation and will continue to the end of the world. According to Samaritan tradition, Adam was fashioned out of the mountain's dust and Abel built the first altar there. The Samaritans further hold that Mount Gerizim was the true mountain in the "region of Moriah" where Abraham set up an altar and prepared to sacrifice Isaac, not the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as held by the Jews of Judah. In later times their synagogues faced Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem. They say that Joshua built the first Tabernacle on the hill and that the split with the Jews began when two priestly brothers built an alternative Tabernacle at Shiloh. When the Taheb, the messiah, comes, he will reveal the location of the cave where the implements used in the tabernacle have been hidden, though the Samaritans don't dream of the structure being rebuilt.

Each year, the Samaritan community moves to houses below the summit of Mount Gerizim for the six weeks of Passover. With the high priest, who lives in Nablus, presiding, one lamb is sacrificed per family in strict conformity with the Mosaic injunctions in Exodus (12:2ff).

Excavating Mount Gerizim

Digging in Israel is like working in a thorn field of political and religious sensitivities, archaeology in the "West Bank" is even thornier, and Mount Gerizim is especially fraught. A delicate mission began in 1982, when the housing minister in the Likud government of Menachem Begin, came to Gerizim to dedicate the start of construction of the settlement of Brakhah. It was intended to become Upper Shekhem, a new Jewish city in the West Bank, overlooking Nablus. They wanted to dig a water reservoir but were told they couldn't, that the site contained antiquities. Work was halted on the town, and an archaeological excavation began. For 18 years, a team employed by the Civil Administration, Israel's military government in Judea and Samaria, labored to uncover the remains of the sacred precinct on the top of Mount Gerizim, the center of the world's tiny remaining Samaritan community. In July 2000 the 100-acre site was opened to visitors and the remains reveal a wealth of information about the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, instead of a city, Brakhah is a small settlement.

Mount Gerizim is of significant archaeological interest today because any information gleaned about the temple that stood there can only add to our knowledge of the temple built by the returning exiles in Jerusalem, of which not a trace remains. Though the Gerizim temple too was destroyed in the late 2nd century BC by Hasmonean leader John Hyrcanus, the dig has turned up many interesting finds, like the remains of a sacred precinct from the 5th century BC, and a larger, more elegant precinct from the 2nd century BC. Also revealed were the limits of the sacred precinct where the temple stood; the grand flight of stairs leading up to the structure; the gateways to the temple (exactly matching the prophet Ezekiel's description and the description in the Temple Scroll found at the Dead Sea of the gates of the First Temple in Jerusalem); thousands of animal bones, presumably the remnants of sacrifices; and hundreds of inscriptions, some of which include the Tetragrammaton, the holy Hebrew name for God.

Right, aerial view of the new 100-acre archaeological park on Mount Gerizim, opened in July 2000.

Also visible today are the remains of walls (9 to 15 feet high). This is one of the few places in the country where such walls have actually been uncovered standing. Additionally, within a precinct of walls and seven towers is the octagonal church of the Maria Theotokos (Greek for 'Mother of God') built about 484 AD by the emperor Zeno and restored by Justinian after the 529 AD Samaritan revolt. The ground plan resembles the church built on the supposed remains of Peter's house in Capernaum and the original Church of the Holy Sepulcher of Constantine in Jerusalem.