Gamla

Gamla ( ), also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump. Gamla served as a key rebel stronghold during the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome. In the summer of 67 CE, after an extended siege and battle, Roman forces under Vespasian ultimately captured the town and massacred its inhabitants. The Jewish historian Josephus, who accompanied the Roman army, provides detailed accounts of these events in his work, The Jewish War. The remains of Gamla were discovered in the 1968 survey of the Golan, with geographical features matching Josephus' descriptions. Located approximately 10 kilometers inland from the Sea of Galilee, the town was built on the southeastern slope of Mount Gamla. Archaeological excavations, starting in 1970 and continuing periodically, have unearthed city walls enclosing an area of about 180 dunams, a water conduit system, ritual baths, Herodian lamps, stone vessels, and thousands of Hasmonean coins. One of the earliest synagogues in the Land of Israel, believed to date back to the late 1st century BCE, was discovered near the town wall in 1976.…

Gamla ( ), also Gamala, was an ancient Jewish town on the Golan Heights. Believed to have been founded as a Seleucid fort during the Syrian Wars, it transitioned into a predominantly Jewish settlement that came under Hasmonean rule in 81 BCE. The town's name reflects its location on a high, elongated ridge with steep slopes resembling a camel's hump. Gamla served as a key rebel stronghold during the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome. In the summer of 67 CE, after an extended siege and battle, Roman forces under Vespasian ultimately captured the town and massacred its inhabitants. The Jewish historian Josephus, who accompanied the Roman army, provides detailed accounts of these events in his work, The Jewish War. The remains of Gamla were discovered in the 1968 survey of the Golan, with geographical features matching Josephus' descriptions. Located approximately 10 kilometers inland from the Sea of Galilee, the town was built on the southeastern slope of Mount Gamla. Archaeological excavations, starting in 1970 and continuing periodically, have unearthed city walls enclosing an area of about 180 dunams, a water conduit system, ritual baths, Herodian lamps, stone vessels, and thousands of Hasmonean coins. One of the earliest synagogues in the Land of Israel, believed to date back to the late 1st century BCE, was discovered near the town wall in 1976. Due to its historical significance during the revolt, Gamla is a symbol for the modern state of Israel and an important archaeological site. It is located within the Gamla Nature Reserve and is home to various wildlife, including rock hyraxes, wild boars, and numerous species of raptors. ==Etymology== in shape, is what gave Gamla its name]] Situated at the southern part of the Golan Heights, overlooking the Sea of Galilee, Gamla (meaning 'the camel' in Aramaic) was built on a steep hill shaped like a camel's hump, from which it derives its name. ==History== ===Early history=== Archaeological excavations have shown that in the place of Gamla there was already a settlement in the Early Bronze Age. The settlement was probably agricultural, as archaeologists have found evidence of long-term use of flint sickles. Some of the findings even go back to the Copper Age. The hill of Gamla remained largely uninhabited from the end of the Early Bronze Age II until the Hellenistic period. In Rabbinic literature, Gamla is listed among the "walled towns from the time of Joshua." This inclusion could have been influenced by the remains of the Early Bronze Age wall, which were still visible during the Second Temple period. ===Roman period=== The city became famous for producing high-quality olive oil. It was actively developed during the reign of Herod the Great, and later was a disputed area between Herod Antipas and Nabatean King Aretas IV Philopatris. The Lucilii Gamalae, a prominent family of the elite of Ostia Antica, have been suggested, following Theodor Mommsen, to have originated from Gamla, based on the rare cognomen Gamala. One proposed explanation is that the ancestor of the family was a slave from Gamla who was brought to Italy and took the name of his place of origin; his descendants later rose to prominence in Ostia's civic administration. This migration has been tentatively dated as early as Pompey's conquest of Judaea in 63 BCE. ==Identification== ballista in Gamla]] The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has, of 1968, taken the position of archaeologist Itzhaki Gal that the ancient site of Gamla is to be identified with the site known as Tell es Salām (shown on map) which, itself, is a corruption of the Arabic word, es-Sanām (the hump). In previous years, the site had been identified with Tell ed-Drāʿ, a place ca. east of the Sea of Galilee in the Ruqqad river-bed, based on Konrad Furrer's identification of the site in 1889. It was only properly identified in 1968 by Itzhaki Gal, after the Israeli conquest of the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War. The site Tell es Salām was excavated by Shmarya Guttman and Danny Syon on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority between 1977 and 2000. The excavations have uncovered 7.5 dunnams, about 5% of the site, revealing a typical Jewish city featuring ritual baths, Herodian lamps, limestone cups and thousands of Hasmonean coins. Additional excavations were carried out on the site in 2008 and 2010, by Haim Ben David and David Adan-Bayewitz on behalf of Bar-Ilan University's Land of Israel Studies Department, and by Danny Syon on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority. With the destruction of the town by the Roman army, Gamla was abandoned, never to be rebuilt. Archaeological excavations there have revealed widespread evidence for the battle that took place at the site. About 100 catapult bolts have been uncovered, as well as 1,600 arrowheads and 2,000 ballista stones, the latter all made from local basalt. This is a quantity unsurpassed anywhere in the Roman Empire. Most were collected along and in close proximity to the wall, placing the heavy fighting in the vicinity and the Roman siegecraft to the north east of the town. Next to a heavy concentration of the stones, the excavators have identified a man-made breach in the wall, probably made by a battering ram. ==Archaeology== Archaeological finds in Gamla provided historians with a unique opportunity to study Jewish life at the end of the Second Temple period. In particular, studies prove that, although the active development of the Golan began under Alexander Jannaeus, the Jews began to settle here much earlier - at least in the second century BCE. This is shown by the large number of coins of the period of the reign of John Hyrcanus. In addition to coins, a large number of weapons were found in Gamla, a synagogue of the Second Temple period, various ritual objects, many different household items and jewelry. About 200 artifacts excavated at Gamla have been identified as the remains of Roman army equipment. These include parts of Roman lorica segmentata, an officer's helmet visor and cheek-guard, bronze scales of another type of armor, as well as Roman identification tags. A Roman siege-hook, used both for stabbing and hooking onto the wall, was found in the breach. Only one human jawbone was identified during the exploration of Gamla, raising questions regarding the absence of human remains despite the widespread evidence of a battle. A tentative answer is discussed by archaeologist Danny Syon, who suggests that the dead would have been buried at nearby mass graves that are yet to be found. One such mass grave has been found at Yodfat, which had suffered the same fate as Gamla at the hands of Vespasian's legions. Artifacts from Gamla are on the display at the Golan Archaeological Museum in Katzrin, including arrowheads, ballista stones, clay oil lamps and coins minted in the town during the siege. A scale model and film are used to describe the conquest and destruction of the Jewish town and all of its inhabitants. ===Weapons=== ballista collected at Gamla]] One of the important successes of archaeologists was the discovery of a huge number of ancient weapons. The number of stone nuclei found in Gamla and arrowheads is a record for finds throughout the Roman Empire. In particular, about 2000 nuclei from basalt, 1600 metal arrowheads, parts of Roman helmets, armor, shields and many other weapons and military supplies were collected. ===Coins=== 6,314 ancient coins were also found in Gamla, including unique coins of its own coinage. Most of them (6,164) were found during 14 seasons of excavation under the guidance of Guttman (1976–1989), 24 during conservation and restoration work in 1990–1991, and the remaining 126 during the four seasons of excavations conducted by Danny Syon and Zvi Yavor in the years 1997–2000. Another 153 coins from Gamla were subsequently found in the collection by the kibbutz Sasa. Among the found coins: In total, 9 Gamla coins from the times of the uprising were found. Of these, 7 were found directly at Gamla, one in Alexandrium, and one from collectors (presumably stolen from Gamla). The Gamla coin, found in Alexandrium, testifies to contacts with the rebels in Galilee. Historians, in particular Dani Zion, Ya'akov Meshorer and David Eidlin, actively discussed the minting of insurgent coins outside of Jerusalem. As Eugene Wallenberg writes, this fact "opens the widest horizons for the historian in studying the social and economic history of the uprising, the study of the Zealots party as an independent and as a self-sufficient political formation." Researchers note the inscriptions on coins were made by craftsmen with low qualification, synthesizing Paleo-Hebrew and Aramaic letters: on one side is the inscription "Deliverance," on the other side, "Holy Jerusalem." Shmarya Guttman wrote: ===Synagogue=== ]]One of the world's earliest known synagogues was discovered in Gamla, and is believed to date back to the late 1st century BCE. It is possibly the oldest synagogue found in the Roman province of Judaea. Situated within the city's walls, this synagogue, constructed from dressed stone, features a main hall measuring 22 by 17 meters. It is characterized by pillared aisles and a surrounding Doric colonnade, with heart-shaped corner columns. Entry to the synagogue was through twin doors located on the southwest side. A ritual bath was unearthed next to it. On the eve of Gamla's destruction, the synagogue appears to have been converted to a dwelling for refugees, as testified by a number of meager fireplaces and large quantities of cookpots and storage jars found along its northern wall. Situated next to the city wall, 157 ballista stones were collected from the synagogue's hall alone and 120 arrowheads from its vicinity. The chronology of the synagogue was challenged by Ma'oz in 2012. His interpretation is that it was built about 50 CE and a mikveh was added in 67 CE. The earlier mikveh was, in Ma'oz understanding, a water cistern. ==Present-day Gamla== visiting Gamla]] In Israel there is a phrase "Gamla will not fall again," meaning that control of the Golan Heights is strategically important for Israel's security. Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party and the Israeli Prime Minister, said in 2009 that the Golan cannot return to Syria for this reason. ==Gallery== File:Gamla ruin.jpg|The breach in the wall of Gamla File:Gamla Eagles 06.jpg|The Gamla vulture look-out File:Gamla Synagogue (5).JPG|Ancient Gamla synagogue File:GAMLA D AERIAL.JPG|Gamla in springtime File:Black-basalt stones used in house construction - Gamla.jpg|House made of basalt stones in Gamla File:Wall of Gamla (2).jpg|Defensive wall in Gamla File:Basalt stone olive press at Gamla (Byzantine period.jpg|Olive-oil press from Byzantine era at Gamla File:Gamla – Hashmonean Quarter (5).JPG|Mikveh remnant in the Hasmonean quarter of Gamla ==Notes== ==References== ===Bibliography=== Josephus, Flavius. William Whiston, A.M., translator (1895). The Works of Flavius Josephus – Antiquities of the Jews. Auburn and Buffalo, New York: John E. Beardsley. Retrieved 16 October 2010. Josephus, Flavius. William Whiston, A.M., translator (1895). The Works of Flavius Josephus – The Wars of the Jews. Auburn and Buffalo, New York: John E. Beardsley. Retrieved 16 October 2010. ==External links==

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