Golan ( he, גּוֹלָן ''Gōlān''; ar, جولان ' or ') 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 Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

(first century CE) and Eusebius (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE). Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at

Sahm el-Jaulān Saham al-Jawlan ( ar, سحم الجولان, ''Saḩam al Jawlān''), also known as Saham el-Golan, is a Syrian village in the Daraa Governorate, in the Hauran region. It had a population of 6,572 in 2004.

, 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 Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

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 Daraa Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة درعا / ALA-LC: ') is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is situated in the south-west of the country and covers an area of 3,730 km2. It is bordered by Jordan to the south, Qune ...

, where early

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

ruins were found. Israeli historical geographer,

Zev Vilnay Zev Vilnay ( he, זאב וילנאי, 12 June 1900 – 21 January 1988) was an Israeli geographer, author and lecturer. Biography Zev Vilnay was born as Volf Vilensky in Kishinev, Russian Empire (now in Moldova). He immigrated to Palestine with h ...

, tentatively identified the town Golan with the Goblana (Gaulan) of the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

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 The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

(Golan). The ruin is not far from the Daughters of Jacob Bridge. The traces of the town were described by Gottlieb Schumacher, G. Schumacher in the late 19th-century as being "a desert ruin," having "no visible remains of importance, but [having] the appearance of great antiquity." Golan, in Grecised form Gaulanitis ( el, Γαυλανῖτις '), 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. In Roman times it was shared between the Roman provinces of Judea (Roman province), Judaea and Phoenice (Roman province), 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 in the Hebrew Bible as the territory of Tribe of Manasseh, Manasseh in the conquered territory of Bashan: Golan was the most northerly of the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River (). 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 Achaemenid Empire, Persian period (c. 539–332 BCE) the Golan region, together with the Bashan, formed the satrapy 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 Seleucid Empire 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) and the Nabatean kings Obodas I and Aretas III between ca. 93–80 BCE, leading to the conquest of the Golan by the former. In 63 BCE the entire former Seleucid realm was conquered by Roman Republic, 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 region and leaves it to his heirs who hold it until the death of Agrippa II at the end of the first century CE. The city of Golan was known to

. Near Golan, Alexander Jannaeus was ambushed by King Obodas I of the Nabateans. It formed the eastern boundary of Galilee and was part of the Philip the Tetrarch, tetrarchy of Philip. It was described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon (Eusebius), Onomasticon 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, an Arab tribe originally from Yemen, used by the Byzantine Empire, 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 on the Golan Heights Ancient Jewish history