Gamla: a Jewish city in the Golan that challenged Rome

There are places where history does not seem like the past. It lies underfoot—in basalt stones, in fragments of walls, in steps leading to houses that are no longer there. Gamla on the Golan Heights is one such place. – here on the map – https://maps.app.goo.gl/xNpm8tj3uifABc6Y8

Today there is silence, wind, gorges, eagles, and a sharp mountain relief. But almost two thousand years ago, a vibrant Jewish city stood on this rocky ridge: with streets, houses, oil presses, a synagogue, trade, disputes, fear, and hope.

In 67 CE, three years before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Gamla fought against Rome. And after its fall, it was never rebuilt.

That is why its stones still speak so loudly.

The city on the camel’s back

The name Gamla is associated with the Hebrew word “gamal”—camel. If you look at the ridge from a certain point, it indeed resembles a huge animal lying on the mountain: a protruding “hump,” an elongated slope line, a steep descent down.

This is not just a beautiful metaphor. The relief of Gamla explains almost everything: why a city arose here, why it was difficult to capture, why the Romans paid a high price for the assault.

On two sides, the city was surrounded by deep gorges. It could only be approached through a narrow isthmus. Even today, the path to the ruins requires effort. Now imagine Roman legionnaires in heavy armor, under fire, among steep stone streets and houses standing one above the other.

Gamla is not mentioned in the Bible, but it was described in detail by Josephus Flavius—a Jewish historian and participant in the events of the Jewish War. He wrote about a city built on a steep mountain ledge, with an elevation in the middle and cliffs on the sides.

For a long time, the exact location of Gamla remained a subject of debate. Until 1967, the Golan Heights were under Syrian control, and Israeli archaeologists could not freely explore the area. After the Six-Day War, the situation changed.

In 1968, Gal Yitzhaki noticed a ridge that remarkably matched Flavius’s description. Later systematic excavations, primarily associated with the name Shmaryahu Gutman, confirmed: the lost city was found.

And it was not a legend.

It was a real Jewish city from the Second Temple period.

Not a fortress of fanatics, but a living city

Gamla is easy to imagine only as a fortress—a place of the last battle, tragedy, and death. But that would be too narrow.

Before the war, life was bustling here. In the western part of the city, archaeologists found houses made of worked basalt, streets, stairs, vessels, decorations, oil lamps, remnants of decorative plaster, and traces of a quite affluent lifestyle.

Gamla was not a poor military outpost on the edge of the world. It was a city connected with trade routes between Galilee, the Golan, Damascus, and lands east of the Jordan.

Olive oil held a special place in the economy. Oil presses were discovered within the city. For the ancient world, oil was not just a product: it was used in food, lighting, crafts, rituals, and trade.

So, before us is not a stone myth, but a city with an economy, market, public life, and internal structure.

This is what makes Gamla so important for understanding the Jewish history of Israel. It shows not only death but also life before the catastrophe.

NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency draws attention to such places not as tourist spots, but as living memories of the country. Gamla is the Golan, Jerusalem, the Jewish War, early synagogue tradition, and the question of the price of freedom, all gathered in one rocky ridge.

The synagogue that changed the perception of the Second Temple period

One of the most important finds of Gamla is the ancient synagogue. It existed even before the destruction of the Second Temple when Jerusalem remained the center of sacrifices, pilgrimage, and religious life of the Jewish people.

This is fundamentally important.

For a long time, there was debate in science about how developed synagogues were before 70 CE. The find in Gamla became one of the strong archaeological confirmations that the synagogue already played a significant role in the life of Jewish communities.

Here they could read the Torah, discuss public affairs, teach children, gather for prayer and interpretation of Scripture.

The synagogue building in Gamla was a large public space. Inside were stone benches along the walls, columns, and nearby—a mikveh. In the synagogue area, traces of the siege were also found: arrowheads, stones, traces of destruction.

This gives the place a special power. The synagogue was not only the center of city life but also found itself inside its last battle.

When Rome came to the Golan

In 67 CE, Vespasian approached Gamla—a Roman general who was soon to become emperor. The Jewish War was already underway, Galilee and the north of the country were engulfed in rebellion.

Gamla was hastily preparing for a siege. The fortress wall looked unusual: in some places, residents literally turned parts of their own homes into a defensive line, filling rooms with stones. This was not the calm architecture of peacetime, but a feverish preparation for a blow.

The first assault turned into a heavy defeat for the Romans. The legionnaires broke into the city but found themselves trapped by its relief. Narrow streets, steep slopes, houses standing one above the other played against the attackers.

According to Josephus Flavius, under the weight of the Romans, the roofs of houses began to collapse. Warriors fell, perished under the debris, lost formation. For the Roman army, this was a humiliating episode.

But Rome was not accustomed to retreat.

After preparation, a second assault followed. Gamla fell.

Stones, arrows, and traces of the last battle

The archaeology of Gamla is particularly strong in that it confirms the drama not with general words, but with objects.

About 1600 iron arrowheads, numerous ballistic stones, iron nails, weapon parts, traces of destruction of walls and buildings were found on the site. This is a rare case where a battlefield can literally be read by the distribution of finds.

Here, there is no need to invent a tragedy. It lies on the ground.

Every stone, every arrow, every fragment of a wall reminds: in Gamla, there was not a symbolic conflict and not a beautiful legend, but a real war. The Roman military machine came to a small city on the Golan, and the city resisted to the end.

Why Gamla is called the “Masada of the North”

Gamla is often called the “Masada of the North,” but this comparison requires caution.

Masada fell later—after the destruction of Jerusalem. Its history is associated with another scene of last resistance. Gamla, however, perished in 67 CE, during the Roman advance on the north, when the fate of Jerusalem was not yet finally decided.

According to Josephus Flavius, thousands of people died at the fall of Gamla—residents of the city and refugees from the surroundings. Some were killed in the streets, some retreated to the summit and rocks, some perished in the gorges.

Therefore, Gamla is not a copy of Masada. It is a separate tragedy.

And, perhaps, even more archaeologically tangible. Because after the fall, the city was not rebuilt. It was not resettled, not overlaid with later layers.

Gamla remained in the ground as the war left it.

Coins of Gamla and the connection with Jerusalem

A special place among the finds is occupied by coins minted in besieged Gamla.

They bore the name of the city and a slogan related to the liberation of holy Jerusalem. This is a crucial detail. The inhabitants of Gamla did not perceive themselves as a distant periphery. They saw their struggle as part of the overall war for Judea and Jerusalem.

The small city on the Golan Heights minted a political statement in metal.

For modern Israel, this detail sounds especially strong. The connection between the local community, the land, Jerusalem, and the common fate of the people was not an abstract idea. It existed in coins, in prayers, in walls, in the decision to resist.

NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency writes about this precisely because such stories help to understand Israel not only through today’s news but also through a long line of memory. Gamla shows: the struggle for existence, for land, for Jerusalem, and for the right to live as one’s people did not begin yesterday.

The city that has not yet said its last word

The main mystery of Gamla is that most of the city is still unrevealed.

Only part of the territory has been excavated. Under the basalt debris, there may remain houses, streets, workshops, vessels, inscriptions, coins, and objects that will still change our understanding of the life of the Jews of the Golan in the Second Temple era.

This is an extremely rare case for Israeli archaeology: the city perished, was not rebuilt, and preserved the tragic layer of the end of the 1st century CE.

Gamla is not just ruins for a tour.

It is a place where you can see how a Jewish city lived before the catastrophe, how it prepared for war, how it prayed, traded, defended itself, and perished. Here, the synagogue, oil presses, residential houses, walls, and traces of Roman projectiles stand side by side.

This is the strength of Gamla.

It does not ask you to believe in a legend. It shows the stones.

The city on the camel’s back was destroyed by Rome, but it did not disappear from history. Almost two thousand years later, it still speaks to Israel—quietly, harshly, and very directly.

Gamla reminds: a people who can read their stones better understand their present.