Golan Heights: Encyclopedia II - Golan Heights - Ancient history

Golan Heights - Ancient history

The area has been occupied by many civilizations. During the 3rd millennium BCE the Amorites dominated and inhabited the Golan until the 2nd millennium, when the Arameans took over. Later known as Bashan, the area was contested between Kingdom of Israel (the northern of the two Jewish kingdoms existent at that time) and the Aramean kingdom from the 800s BCE. King Ahab of Israel (reigned 874–852 BCE) defeated Ben-Hadad I in the southern Golan.

In the 700s BCE the Assyrians gained control of the area, but were later replaced by the Babylonian and the Persian Empire. In the 5th century BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylonian Captivity (modern Iraq).

In the 4th century BCE, the area came under the control of Alexander the Great and remained under Hellenistic rule until captured by the Romans. In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee aided the local Jewish communities when they came under attack, although the area itself was not in Jewish hands.

The area was named Golan following the Roman occupation—the Greeks referred to the area as "Gaulanitis", the term used by the Romans, which led to the word "Golan". The Nabataeans gained control of the area in 85 BCE. The area was later captured by the Romans after they took Nabatea. During the First Revolt (66-73 CE) against Rome by the Jews of Judea, a number of Jews captured a hilltop at Gamla, which later fell; the hilltop is today called the "Masada of the Golan".

In about 250 CE, the Ghassanids immigrated to the modern-day Golan and built their capital at Jabiyah. Their kingdom extended southward to the Hijaz and they controlled most of the Levant's trade routs. After the partitioning of the Roman Empire in 391 CE, the Golan Heights fell under the sphere of the Byzantine Empire, under the rule of their vassals, the Ghassanids. The area came under a short-lived Sassanid occupation that started in 614 and ended in approximately 628. In 636, the area was conquered by Muslim Arabs under the Caliph Umar I. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Druze began to settle the northern Golan and the slopes of Mount Hermon. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks came in control of the area and remained so until the end of World War I.

In the 1880s, a Jewish community called Ramataniya was founded by early Zionists; it failed within a year.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ancient history", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki