Note 3636 — BOOK V. AN ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, NATIONS, SEAS, TOWNS, HAVENS, MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, DISTANCES, AND PEOPLES WHO NOW EXIST OR FORMERLY EXISTED.
John Bostock translation
The city of Samaria, so called from Shemer, the owner of the hill which Omri, King of Israel, purchased, about B.C. 922, for its site. Herod greatly renovated this city, which he called Sebaste, in honour of his patron Augustus, in Greek “Sebastos.” Its site is now occupied by a poor village, which bears the name of Sebustieh.