Ramoth-gilead

Ramoth-gilead (meaning heights of Gilead) was one of the most strategically important cities in the Transjordan, serving as a Levitical city of refuge (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8; 21:38) and later as a frontier fortress contested between Israel and Aram-Damascus for most of the ninth century BC. It was the focal point of the battle in which Ahab of Israel was killed: against the advice of the prophet Micaiah, Ahab and Jehoshaphat of Judah fought against Aram to recover Ramoth-gilead; Ahab was killed by a random arrow (1 Kings 22:29–38).

The city remained a military flashpoint: Jehoram son of Ahab was wounded fighting for Ramoth-gilead (2 Kings 8:28–29), and it was at Ramoth-gilead that the prophet Elisha sent a young prophet to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel — the act that triggered Jehu's revolution and the end of the Omride dynasty (2 Kings 9:1–14). The site is generally identified with Tell Ramith in northern Jordan.