The Decapolis
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:20) — is generally described as a region of the half-tribe of Manasseh, east of the Jordan. Geographers generally agree that Scythopolis was the chief of the 10 cities of this region, and only it lay west of the Jordan; that Hippos, Gadara, Dion, Pella, Gerasa, or Gergesa, Philadelphia, and Raphana, or Rhaphon, made up seven of the remaining nine cities, and the remaining two were Kanatha and Damascus. These cities formed a kind of league, perhaps similar to the former Hanseatic cities, and enjoyed special privileges.
During the earthly life of the Lord they were inhabited chiefly by foreigners (Greeks). This explains the circumstance that the Gergesenes kept large herds of swine (Matt. 8:30–33), an occupation forbidden by Hebrew law. Of all these cities, now lying in desolation, only Damascus, like an oasis in the desert, remains to this day a populous and flourishing city. The word “Decapolis” occurs in Holy Scripture, and specifically in the New Testament, only three times: Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:20; 7:31.