Golan () is a city of refuge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, later known from the works of Josephus (first century CE) and Eusebius (Onomasticon, early 4th century CE). The biblical city of Golan could not be positively identified, but most researchers localize it at Sahm el-Jaulān in Syria's Daraa Governorate.
Etymology; name and meaning throughout history
The name of the area is said by Brown–Driver–Briggs to derive from the triliteral Semitic root g-w-l, meaning to go around, as in a circle, leading to the sense of the word as referring to a region or district. Similarly, it is said to mean "circle" or "enclosure".; Joshua 20:8 "וְאֶת־גּוֹלָ֥ן בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן מִמַּטֵּ֥ה מְנַשֶּֽׁה" "and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh"; and 1 Chronicles 6:56 "אֶת־גּוֹלָ֥ן בַּבָּשָׁ֖ן וְאֶת־מִגְרָשֶׁ֑יהָ" "Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands").
The shift in the meaning of Golan, from a town to a broader district or territory, is first attested by the Jewish historian Josephus, who calls it Gaulanitis (, ), The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century. Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period sometimes refer to "Jawlan" as a mountain, though the region is a plateau.
The village during the Roman period
The settlement was known to Josephus. It formed the eastern boundary of Galilee and was part of the tetrarchy of Philip. It was described by Eusebius in his Onomasticon as a large village that gave its name to the surrounding country.
Josephus mentions that Golan was conquered by Alexander Jannaeus during his final campaigns. After this, Golan does not appear in Josephus's writings, suggesting that the city had been destroyed.
Identification
Sahem al-Jawlan and Beit Akkar
The location of biblical Golan is not known, researchers though suggest it to be at modern-day Sahm el-Jaulān, a Syrian village east of Wadi 'Allan in the Daraa Governorate, where early Byzantine ruins were found. Gottlieb Schumacher described it in 1886 in "Across the Jordan", and its proximity to Saham al-Jawlan led to many scholars considering it to be the biblical city of Golan.
Kh. ej-Jelêbîne near the Hula Valley
In 1954, Israeli historical geographer Zev Vilnay had tentatively identified the town of Golan with the Goblana (Gaulan) of the Talmud, which he thought to be the ruin ej-Jelêbîne on the Wâdy Dabûra, a wadi near the Lake of Huleh, by way of a corruption of the site's original name.
The region in antiquity
Persian period
During the Persian period (c. 539–332 BCE), the Golan region, together with the Bashan, formed the satrapy of Karnaim. 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 c. 93–80 BCE, leading to the conquest of the Golan by Jannaeus. A different view is that the Christians of the Golan were Ghassanids, an Arab tribe originally from Yemen, used by the Byzantines as frontier guards since the end of the 5th century.