The Origins and Meaning of “Judea” and “Samaria”

Understanding the Ancient Names that Root the Jewish People to Their Land-

1. Introduction: Place Names as Identity Anchors

In the ancient Near East, place names were never neutral labels — they carried deep cultural, political, and religious meaning. The names Judea and Samaria are more than geographical references; they encode the story of a people’s covenant, kingship, and continuity. Each name reflects the ancient Israelite and later Jewish presence in the central highlands of the Land of Israel — regions that the Bible, archaeology, and historical sources consistently connect to the Hebrew tribes and kingdoms.

To understand how these names originated and evolved, one must trace them from the tribal confederations of early Israel through the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, into the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, and modern eras.

The survival of these names — Yehudah (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria) — across 3,000 years is itself evidence of enduring Jewish identification with these lands.

2. Etymology and Biblical Origins of “Judea” (Yehudah)

a. The Tribal and Personal Roots

The name “Judea” comes from the Hebrew “Yehudah” (יְהוּדָה), originally the name of one of Jacob’s twelve sons — Judah, the fourth son born to Leah (Genesis 29:35). His name is derived from the Hebrew root “y-d-h”, meaning to praise or give thanks. Leah, upon giving birth, said, “This time I will praise the LORD” — “hapa’am odeh et Adonai” — so she named him Judah (Yehudah).

The tribe of Judah became one of the largest and most influential among the twelve tribes of Israel. Its territory lay in the southern hill country, stretching from Jerusalem southward toward Hebron and the Negev. As the biblical narrative unfolds, Judah’s tribe gained both religious and political prominence, especially under King David, who was from Bethlehem in Judah.

b. From Tribe to Kingdom

When King David united the tribes around 1000 BCE, he established his capital in Jerusalem, a city partly on the border between the tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin. Under his son Solomon, the united monarchy flourished, but after Solomon’s death (c. 930 BCE), the kingdom split into two:

• The northern kingdom: Israel (capital: Samaria)

• The southern kingdom: Judah (capital: Jerusalem)

Thus, the Kingdom of Judah (Yehudah) gave its name to both the people and the land. The term “Yehudi” (Jew) originally meant “a person from Judah” — but later came to represent all Israelites who continued the traditions of Jerusalem’s Temple and the Davidic covenant after the northern kingdom’s fall.

c. Linguistic Evolution into “Judea”

When the Babylonians and later Persians ruled the region, the Aramaic and later Greek and Latin forms of the name evolved:

• Hebrew: Yehudah

• Aramaic: Yehud

• Greek: Ioudaia

• Latin: Judaea

By the time of the Persian Empire (6th–4th centuries BCE), official administrative documents referred to the province as Yehud Medinata (“the province of Judah”). Later, under the Romans, it became Provincia Iudaea (Judea Province).

d. What “Judea” Revealed About Jewish Identity

The evolution of Yehudah into Judea demonstrates that Jewish identity was rooted in both lineage and land. “Jew” (Yehudi) literally means “one from Judah.” Even Jews living in exile carried that name as a reminder of their homeland and covenantal roots.

Thus, the word “Judea” became a geographical embodiment of Jewish nationhood and worship — centered on Jerusalem, the Temple, and the law of Moses. This is why the New Testament, Josephus, and Roman records still use “Judea” to describe the Jewish homeland and people, centuries after the kingdom itself had fallen.

3. The Origin of “Samaria” (Shomron)

a. Biblical Birth of the Name

The name Samaria comes from the Hebrew “Shomron” (שֹׁמְרוֹן), derived from the root “sh-m-r” — meaning to watch, guard, or keep. According to 1 Kings 16:24, King Omri of Israel bought a hill from a man named Shemer and built a new capital city there, naming it Shomron after him:

“He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver and built on the hill, calling it Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill.”

From this city’s name, the entire surrounding region eventually became known as Shomron / Samaria.

b. Capital of the Northern Kingdom

Samaria became the political center of the Kingdom of Israel (the northern kingdom), rivaling Jerusalem, the capital of Judah in the south. The northern kingdom included the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, and others — regions rich in agriculture and trade routes.

Despite its political rivalry, the northern kingdom shared the same language (Hebrew), cultural traditions, and covenantal heritage as Judah. The prophets Elijah, Elisha, Amos, and Hosea ministered primarily in this region, calling the people of Samaria back to the worship of the God of Israel.

c. The Assyrian Conquest and Population Shifts

In 722 BCE, the Assyrian Empire conquered Samaria, destroyed its kingdom, and deported many of its inhabitants. The Assyrians repopulated the region with people from other conquered territories (2 Kings 17:24). These mixed populations came to be known later as Samaritans — a group that preserved a form of Yahweh worship centered on Mount Gerizim rather than Jerusalem.

However, biblical, archaeological, and epigraphic evidence indicates that not all Israelites were exiled, and many northern Israelites remained in the land. Over time, the name “Samaria” referred to both the capital city and the larger region encompassing the hill country between Judea and Galilee.

d. The Name’s Meaning in Jewish Memory

In the biblical prophets and later Jewish writings, “Samaria” symbolized both brotherhood and division — a region once part of united Israel, later estranged but still recognized as part of the sacred geography of the people. Even after the exile, Jews remembered Samaria as part of the ancestral heartland. The books of Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra refer to “the land of Samaria” in continuity with Israel’s tribes.

4. Judea and Samaria in Later Historical Periods

a. The Persian and Hellenistic Periods

Under Persian rule (6th–4th centuries BCE), the land was divided into provinces. Judea (Yehud) was administered from Jerusalem, and Samaria was a neighboring province with its own governor. Archaeological finds such as the Yehud coins (minted in Jerusalem) and the Samaritan papyri from Wadi Daliyeh confirm these parallel Jewish and Samaritan presences.

During the Hellenistic period (after Alexander the Great, 4th–2nd centuries BCE), these regions remained known as Judea and Samaria, with distinct populations but shared ancient Israelite heritage.

b. The Hasmonean and Roman Eras

In the 2nd century BCE, the Hasmonean (Maccabean) dynasty, a Jewish priestly family, rose in Judea and expanded their territory to include parts of Samaria and Galilee. The historian Josephus refers to the land consistently as Ioudaia (Judea), indicating its Jewish national identity.

When Rome made Judea a client kingdom and later a province, the name “Judea” remained in use to describe the southern and central highlands — including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, and parts of Samaria. The Romans later attempted to erase this identity after the Bar Kokhba revolt (135 CE) by renaming the province Syria Palaestina — but the earlier names Judea and Samaria persisted in Jewish and Christian usage.

5. The Names as Symbols of Covenant and Continuity

a. Spiritual Significance

For the Jewish people, Judea was not just a homeland — it was the land of Davidic kingship, the Temple, and divine promise.
Samaria, while historically divided, was still part of Israel’s ancestral territory, with mountains and towns that witnessed the ministries of prophets and kings.

Together, Judea and Samaria represent the biblical heartland — the terrain of Abraham’s wanderings, Jacob’s wells, and prophetic visions. They symbolize not empire or colonization, but roots — family, covenant, and identity.

b. Continuity in Jewish and Christian Memory

Despite conquests and exiles, the names survived in religious texts, prayers, and historical memory:

• Jewish prayers mention “the cities of Judah” and “the hills of Samaria” as part of the hope for restoration.

• The New Testament places events such as Jesus’ travels and parables in “Judea and Samaria,” confirming the enduring use of these biblical designations.

• Medieval Jewish travelers like Benjamin of Tudela still referred to the region as “Judea” and “Samaria.”

This linguistic continuity — over 2,500 years — underscores that the Jewish connection to these lands is historical, spiritual, and cultural, not merely political.

6. What the Names Reveal About Jewish Identity

The enduring use of Judea and Samaria reveals three key truths about the ancient Jewish identity:

1. Rootedness in Covenant Geography
   Jewish identity was inseparable from land — not in a territorial sense of conquest, but as part of divine history. The names kept alive the sacred geography of the covenant between God and Israel.

2. Historical Continuity
   Despite exiles and foreign rule, the self-designation Yehudi — one from Yehudah — preserved a living link to the homeland. Every generation that prayed facing Jerusalem reinforced the connection symbolized by these names.

3. Resistance to Erasure
   Even when imperial powers changed the map — Assyria, Babylon, Rome — the Jewish people preserved the older biblical names in their texts, prayers, and traditions. “Judea” and “Samaria” thus became emblems of survival against displacement.

7. Conclusion: The Living Geography of Jewish Memory

The names Judea and Samaria are not relics of an ancient map. They are living testaments to the endurance of Jewish presence and consciousness in the very lands where the Bible’s drama unfolded.

From the hills of Judah to the slopes of Samaria, every valley and well bears witness to an identity that refused to vanish.

Even after millennia of exile, Jews continued to say, “Next year in Jerusalem,” invoking not only the city but the whole biblical heartland — Judea and Samaria — where their story began.

These names reveal a people’s unbroken thread of faith, memory, and belonging — woven through history, text, and prayer.