Editing Golan

{{short description|Ancient city}}
{{About|the ancient city and its immediate surroundings|the geographical region|Golan Heights|other uses}}

'''Golan''' ({{langx|he|גּוֹלָן|Gōlān}}; {{langx|ar|جولان|Jawlān}}) is the name of a [[Hebrew Bible|biblical]] town later known from the works of [[Josephus]] (first century CE) and [[Eusebius]] (''Onomasticon'', early 4th century CE).<ref name="NegevGibson">{{cite book |work=Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land |title=Golan; Gaulanitis; Jaulan |author=Avraham Negev |author2=Shimon Gibson |name-list-style=amp |year=2001 |location=New York and London |publisher=Continuum |pages=206–208 |isbn=0-8264-1316-1 }}</ref> Archaeologists localize the biblical city of Golan at [[Sahm el-Jaulān]],<ref name="Arav">{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_KIKUyQHJNQC&q=Sahem+el+golan&pg=PA42 |title=Bethsaida: A City by the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee, vol. 3 (v. 3) |author=Rami Arav |author2=Richard A. Freund |edition=Paperback |publisher=Truman State University Press |year=2004 |isbn=1-931112-39-8 |page=42}}</ref> a [[Syria]]n village east of [[Wadi]] ar-[[Ruqqad]] in the [[Daraa Governorate]], where early [[Byzantine]] ruins were found.<ref name="Arav"/> Israeli historical geographer, [[Zev Vilnay]], tentatively identified the town Golan with the Goblana (Gaulan) of the [[Talmud]]<ref>[[Jerusalem Talmud]] (''[[Avodah Zarah (tractate)|Avodah Zarah]]'' chapter 2; ''[[Megillah (Talmud)|Megillah]]'', chapter 3)</ref> which he thought to be the ruin ''ej-Jelêbîne'' on the Wâdy Dabûra, near the [[Hula Valley|Lake of Huleh]], by way of a corruption of the site's original name.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vilnay|first=Z.|author-link=Zev Vilnay|title=Identification of Talmudic Place Names |journal=[[The Jewish Quarterly Review]]|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |volume=45|issue=2 |year=1954|pages=[https://www.jstor.org/stable/1452901 133]–134 |doi=10.2307/1452901|language=en |jstor=1452901 }}</ref> 

According to Vilnay, the village took its name from the district [[Gaulanitis]] (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."<ref>{{cite book|first1 =G.|last1=Schumacher |author-link1=Gottlieb Schumacher |title=The Jaulân: surveyed for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land|url=https://archive.org/details/jaulnsurveyedfo00schugoog/page/n7/mode/2up|year=1888|location=London|publisher=Richard Bentley & Son |pages=[https://archive.org/details/jaulnsurveyedfo00schugoog/page/n183/mode/2up 162–163] |oclc=1142389290 }}</ref>

In the Grecised form '''Gaulanitis''' ({{langx|grc|Γαυλανῖτις|Gaulanîtis}}), it is the name of the region apparently named for the town of Golan.<ref name="NegevGibson"/> During much of the [[Hellenistic period]], when the name Gaulanitis was coined, the region was part of the [[Seleucid Empire]].<ref name="NegevGibson"/> In Roman times it was shared between the Roman provinces of [[Judea (Roman province)|Judaea]] and [[Phoenice (Roman province)|Phoenice]].<ref name="hisoma">''[http://www.hisoma.mom.fr/sites/hisoma.mom.fr/files/annuaire-du-personnel/aliquot-julien/Aliquot_Gaulanitide_2009.pdf The history and antiquities of al-Golan - International Conference] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201183409/https://www.hisoma.mom.fr/sites/hisoma.mom.fr/files/annuaire-du-personnel/aliquot-julien/Aliquot_Gaulanitide_2009.pdf |date=2020-02-01 }}'', Al-Bassel Center for Archaeological Research and Training, 2007-2008.</ref>

==Hebrew Bible==
The area is referred to 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]] ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|4:43|NKJV}}). Manasseh gave this [[Levitical city]] to the [[Gershonite]] [[Levites]] ({{bibleverse|Joshua||21:27}}; {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|6:71|NKJV}}). According to the Bible, the [[Israelites]] conquered Golan, taking it from the [[Amorite]]s.

==Persian period==
During the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian period]] (c. 539–332 BCE) the Golan region, together with the [[Bashan]], formed the [[satrapy]] of Karnaim.<ref name="NegevGibson"/>

==Hellenistic and Early Roman periods==
Now named Gaulanitis, the area formed a district all by itself during the early Hellenistic period.<ref name="NegevGibson"/> Once the [[Seleucid Empire]] started its gradual collapse, the Golan became a target for [[Iturean]] and other Arab tribes.<ref name="Dar">{{cite book |work=The Nabateans in the Negev |editor=Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom |year=2003 |location=Haifa |title=The Nabateans in the Hauran |author=Shimon Dar of Bar Ilan University |publisher=Hecht Museum, University of Haifa |pages=45–46 |isbn=965-7034-12-4 }}</ref> 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]] and [[Aretas III]] between ca. 93–80 BCE, leading to the conquest of the Golan by Jannaeus.<ref name="Dar"/> 

In 63 BCE the entire former Seleucid realm was conquered by [[Roman Republic|Roman]] general [[Pompey]],<ref name="Dar"/> and the Golan is settled by the Itureans.<ref name="NegevGibson"/> In 23 BCE the Jewish king [[Herod the Great]], a [[client ruler]] loyal to Rome, receives the rule over the wider [[Hauran]] region. He leaves it to his heirs, who hold it until the death of [[Agrippa II]] at the end of the first century CE.<ref name="NegevGibson"/><ref name="Dar"/>

The city of Golan was known to [[Josephus]]. 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.<ref name="hisoma"/> 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.<ref name="NegevGibson"/> 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.<ref name="NegevGibson"/>

The Golan was prosperous during the Roman and Byzantine periods, but had a purely rural character and lacked any larger towns.<ref name="NegevGibson"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Archaeological sites on the Golan Heights]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible cities]]
[[Category:Levitical cities]]
[[Category:Ancient Jewish settlements of the Golan Heights]]
[[Category:Former populated places in the Golan Heights]]
[[Category:Ancient Jewish history]]
[[Category:Book of Deuteronomy]]
[[Category:Book of Joshua]]
[[Category:Books of Chronicles]]
[[Category:Philip the Tetrarch]]