1 Kings 16:24

And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer, at that time its owner, for two talents of silver (between three and four thousand dollars), and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. This city was located east of Tirzah, northeast of Shechem, on a "beautiful round mountain, covered with splendid trees, and lying in a valley or basin enclosed with mountains, commanding a glorious prospect of the fruitful valley and the heights and villages surrounding it. " "The hill on which Samaria was situated rose some three hundred feet above the surrounding valley on all sides except the east, and when fortified, presented such an impregnable front that it took even an Assyrian army three years to capture it. " 2)