Gadara, the country of the Gadarenes
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) — the chief and fortified city of the region of Gadara beyond the Jordan, in Perea, southeast of Tiberias, from which it took its name. The city of Gadara was situated on the summit of a hill, at the foot of which, on both banks of the Yarmuk, were hot mineral springs called Amatha. The city of Gadara is not mentioned in the Bible, but it is evident that it is identical with the country of the Gadarenes. At present, at a distance of 16 miles from Tiberias, there are extensive and remarkable ruins called Umm Qais, belonging to ancient Gadara, and at the foot of the hill lies the deep bed of the ancient river Yarmuk, now called the Sheriat el-Mandhur, and here to this day hot mineral springs are still found.
Gadara belonged to the Decapolis (Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:1; 7:31), and is mentioned for the first time by Josephus among the cities occupied by Antiochus III the Great, king of Syria. Gadara, or the country of the Gadarenes, is especially notable as the place where the Lord healed the demoniac (Mark 5:1–21; Luke 8:26–40). A remarkable feature of Gadara is its caves, or tombs, in which the demoniac hid, cut into the limestone ground and presenting hollows of various sizes with niches along the sides for placing bodies.
The present-day inhabitants of Umm Qais all live in these caves. The remains of the city gates and the colonnades of the theaters still vividly attest to the former prosperity of Gadara. The ruins of another city, Gerasa, are even more extensive and beautiful than those of Gadara; they are now called Jerash. The remains of three temples, two magnificent marble amphitheaters, and numerous columns still testify, among other monuments, to the might of the Roman Empire. Regarding Gadara it must also be noted here that the locality where the demoniac was healed is called the country of the Gergesenes (Matt. 8:28).
Gadara, as said above, lay not far from the Sea, or Lake, of Tiberias to the southeast, while Gergesa lay somewhat further in the same direction from the lake, and both cities were located in one and the same region (Perea, or ancient Gilead). Thus the difference is only that one evangelist named one city, and the other — the other, but of the same district.