Decapolis

The Decapolis was a group of ten Hellenistic cities located in ancient Palestine, mentioned in the New Testament.

The Decapolis was a group of ten Hellenistic cities located in ancient Palestine, primarily in modern-day Jordan, Syria, and Israel. The cities were centers of Greek culture and were granted a degree of autonomy under Roman rule. In the New Testament, the Decapolis is mentioned as a region where Jesus traveled and performed miracles (Matthew 4:25; Mrk.5.20; 7:31). The most notable event connected to the Decapolis is the healing of the demon-possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes (Mrk.5.1-20). After being healed, the man went throughout the Decapolis proclaiming what Jesus had done for him, spreading the message of Christ in the region.

Ten cities=deka, ten, and polis, a city, a district on the east and south-east of the Sea of Galilee containing “ten cities,” which were chiefly inhabited by Greeks. It included a portion of Bashan and Gilead, and is mentioned three times in the New Testament (Matt. 4:25; Mark 5:20; 7:31). These cities were Scythopolis, i.e., “city of the Scythians”, (ancient Bethshean, the only one of the ten cities on the west of Jordan), Hippos, Gadara, Pella (to which the Christians fled just before the destruction of Jerusalem), Philadelphia (ancient Rabbath-ammon), Gerasa, Dion, Canatha, Raphana, and Damascus. When the Romans conquered Syria (B.C. 65) they rebuilt, and endowed with certain privileges, these “ten cities,” and the province connected with them they called “Decapolis.”