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TODD BOLEN / BIBLEPLACES.COM

GOLAN GEM. Situated on a hill in the Golan Heights with a view of the Sea of Galilee, Gamla was a strategic city that played a major role in the Great Jewish Revolt of the first century CE. For a large Jewish settlement, one would expect a large synagogue, and Gamla does not disappoint. Its synagogue could have held more than 400 people. It had stepped benches lining its main assembly hall and carved basalt columns that once supported a clerestory ceiling.