Golan ( he, גּוֹלָן, Gōlān; ar, جولان, Jawlān) is the name of a

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

town later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at Sahm el-Jaulān, a

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

n village east of Wadi ar-

Ruqqad The Ruqqad is a wadi flowing in south-west Syria, and ''de facto'' also in Northeast Israel. It flows into the Yarmouk River, of which it is one of the main tributaries, and forms the topographical eastern boundary of the Golan Heights. It marks t ...

in the Daraa Governorate, where early Byzantine ruins were found. Israeli historical geographer, Zev Vilnay, tentatively identified the town Golan with the Goblana (Gaulan) of the Talmud which he thought to be the ruin ''ej-Jelêbîne'' on the Wâdy Dabûra, near the Lake of Huleh, by way of a corruption of the site's original name. According to Vilnay, the village took its name from the district Gaulanitis (Golan). The ruin is not far from the

Daughters of Jacob Bridge Daughters of Jacob Bridge ( he, גשר בנות יעקב, ''Gesher Bnot Ya'akov''; ar, جسر بنات يعقوب, ''Jisr Benat Ya'kub''). is a bridge that spans the last natural ford of the Jordan at the southern end of the Hula Basin between ...

. The traces of the town were described by G. Schumacher in the late 19th-century as being "a desert ruin," having "no visible remains of importance, but avingthe appearance of great antiquity." In the Grecised form Gaulanitis ( grc, Γαυλανῖτις, Gaulanîtis), it is the name of the region apparently named for the town of Golan. During much of the Hellenistic period, when the name Gaulanitis was coined, the region was part of the

Seleucid Empire The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...

. In Roman times it was shared between the Roman provinces of Judaea and Phoenice.
The history and antiquities of al-Golan - International Conference
', Al-Bassel Center for Archaeological Research and Training, 2007-2008.

Hebrew Bible

The area is referred to in the Hebrew Bible as the territory of Manasseh in the conquered territory of Bashan: Golan was the most northerly of the three cities of refuge east of the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

(). Manasseh gave this Levitical city to the Gershonite Levites (; ). According to the Bible, the Israelites conquered Golan, taking it from the Amorites.

Persian period

During the

Persian period Yehud, also known as Yehud Medinata or Yehud Medinta (), was an administrative province of the Achaemenid Persian Empire in the region of Judea that functioned as a self-governing region under its local Jewish population. The province was a part ...

(c. 539–332 BCE) the Golan region, together with the Bashan, formed the

satrapy A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...

of Karnaim.

Hellenistic and Early Roman periods

Now named Gaulanitis, the area formed a district all by itself during the early Hellenistic period. Once the

started its gradual collapse, the Golan became a target for Iturean and other Arab tribes. At the same time it was enveloped by the regional wars fought by Hasmonean ruler Alexander Jannaeus (r. 103-76 BCE) against the Nabatean kings

Obodas I Obodas I (Nabataean Aramaic: ''ʿŌbōdaṯ''; grc, Ὀβόδας) was king of the Nabataeans from 96 BC to 85 BC. After his death, Obodas was worshiped as a deity. Life Obodas was the successor of Aretas II, from whom he inherited the war with ...

and

Aretas III Aretas III (; Nabataean Aramaic: ''Ḥārīṯat''; Ancient Greek: ) was king of the Nabataean kingdom from 87 to 62 BCE. Aretas ascended to the throne upon the death of his brother, Obodas I, in 87 BCE. During his reign, he extended his kin ...

between ca. 93–80 BCE, leading to the conquest of the Golan by Jannaeus. In 63 BCE the entire former Seleucid realm was conquered by Roman general Pompey, and the Golan is settled by the Itureans. In 23 BCE the Jewish king Herod the Great, a client ruler loyal to Rome, receives the rule over the wider

Hauran The Hauran ( ar, حَوْرَان, ''Ḥawrān''; also spelled ''Hawran'' or ''Houran'') is a region that spans parts of southern Syria and northern Jordan. It is bound in the north by the Ghouta oasis, eastwards by the al-Safa (Syria), al-Safa ...

region. He leaves it to his heirs, who hold it until the death of

Agrippa II Herod Agrippa II (; AD 27/28 – or 100), officially named Marcus Julius Agrippa and sometimes shortened to Agrippa, was the last ruler from the Herodian dynasty, reigning over territories outside of Judea as a Roman client. Agrippa II fled ...

at the end of the first century CE. The city of Golan was known to Josephus. Near Golan, Alexander Jannaeus was ambushed by King

of the Nabateans. It formed the eastern boundary of

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

and was part of the tetrarchy of Philip. It was described by Eusebius in his

Onomasticon Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius) *Onomasticon of Amenope *Onomasticon of Joan Coromines *Onomasticon of Julius Pollux *Onomasticon of Johann Glandorp *''Onomasticon Anglo-Saxonicum Onomasticon may refer to: *Onomasticon (Eusebius ...

as a large village that gave its name to the surrounding country.

Late Roman and Byzantine periods

The region was prosperous between the 2nd and the 7th century CE when pagan communities were step by step replaced by Christian ones. A different view is that the Christians of the Golan were

Ghassanids The Ghassanids ( ar, الغساسنة, translit=al-Ġasāsina, also Banu Ghassān (, romanized as: ), also called the Jafnids, were an Arab tribe which founded a kingdom. They emigrated from southern Arabia in the early 3rd century to the Levan ...

, an Arab tribe originally from Yemen, used by the Byzantines as frontier guards since the end of the 5th century. An important Jewish presence was attested by archaeology since the Roman period in the Golan, and by the 6th century the population of the Byzantine Golan was made up by Jews and Christian Ghassanids. The Golan was prosperous during the Roman and Byzantine periods, but had a purely rural character and lacked any larger towns.

References

{{coord, 32.9479, N, 35.6612, E, source:wikidata, display=title Archaeological sites on the Golan Heights Hebrew Bible cities Levitical cities Ancient Jewish settlements of the Golan Heights Former populated places in the Golan Heights Ancient Jewish history Book of Deuteronomy Book of Joshua Books of Chronicles Philip the Tetrarch