GALGAL, GALGALA (Hebr. hag-Gilgâl “the circle”). — The Israelites’ first encampment after crossing the Jordan (Ios. 4:19) and the base of operations for their various campaigns to conquer the land of Canaan (Ios. 7:10). Because of its associations—the dwelling place of the Ark, the erection of the monument of the twelve stones taken from the Jordan, circumcision, and the celebration of Passover (Ios. 5:2–12)—it acquired particular importance in the history of Israel. Every year, at the great assemblies, Samuel visited its sanctuary (I Sam. 6:16); Saul was proclaimed king there and later lost both his kingdom and his dynasty there (I Sam. 10:8; 11:15; 13:5; 15:12). David was received there with festivity by the tribe of Judah on his return from his flight to Transjordan (II Sam. 19:16). Later, when G. became a center of idolatry, like the sanctuary of Bethel, it was condemned in the invectives of the prophets (Os. 4:15; 9:15; Am. 4:4), and after the Babylonian exile its memory was lost.
The Hirbet el-Eqaleh (“ruins near the terebinth”), 5 km from the Jordan and 4 km east of Tell es-Suljân (ancient Jericho), offers the best grounds for identifying it with the Israelite G., although the name Birbet Gilğâlijjeh or Tell Gilğâl, unknown to the local Bedouins, is repeated on European maps.
On the authority of ancient texts (Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Ind., V, 1, 4; Eusebius, Onom., 64, 22) and medieval pilgrims, G. was sought in the vicinity of Jericho, more precisely at Hirbet el-Muğfir, 2 km northeast of Ajn es-Suljân, where the Madaba map seems to mark the church of the Dodecaliton. Excavations begun in 1935 brought to light a sumptuous Arab palace from the Umayyad period (eighth century), built in part with Christian architectural elements removed, perhaps, from the church of the Dodecaliton, from Hirbet el-Eqaleh, where the remains of Byzantine constructions are found.
Other places bearing the name G. are: G. visited by the prophets Elisha and Elis (II Reg. 4:28), today Gilğâlijjeh, 12 km north of Bethel; G. in the plain of Sharon (Ios. 12:23), Gilğâlijjeh, 5 km north of Rûa el-'Ajn; G. (Dent. 11:30), Guleğâl, 4 km southeast of Sichem.