Image Details

All uncredited photos courtesy of the author

DIVISA IN PARTES TRES. The Golan Heights can be divided into three distinct parts. The central Golan, where Deir Aziz is located and most Jews lived, is a stretch of rugged, hilly terrain 10 miles wide and 15 miles long (shaded on the map). This is the area referred to when ancient writers speak of the Golan. The Paneas/Banias district lies to the north and was occupied by Iturians living in the Mt. Hermon region and the Lebanon Valley. To the south was a mostly pagan (and later, Christian) district, with its capital at Hippos/Sussita, one of the cities of the Roman Decapolis.