Gadarenes
Gadarenes is an ancient city mentioned in the New Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Umm Qais. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
The Gadarenes are mentioned in the New Testament Gospels in connection with one of Jesus's most dramatic miracles — the exorcism of a demon-possessed man (or two men, in Matthew's account). Mark 5:1–20 and Luke 8:26–39 record that Jesus and his disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee and arrived in the country of the Gadarenes (or Gerasenes in some manuscripts), where they encountered a man tormented by a legion of demons. Jesus cast the demons into a herd of approximately two thousand pigs, which then rushed down a steep bank into the lake and drowned. The dramatic destruction of the pigs caused the local population to beg Jesus to leave their territory — a striking response to divine power that placed economic loss above spiritual deliverance. The healed man, restored to his right mind, was commissioned by Jesus to return to his home and testify to what God had done for him, becoming one of the earliest Gentile witnesses to Christ's power and compassion. The region of the Gadarenes was part of the Decapolis, a league of Hellenized cities east of the Jordan River, explaining both the pig-herding (a Gentile practice) and the Greek-influenced urban culture of the area.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The Gadarenes are associated with the ancient city of Gadara, modern Umm Qais in northwestern Jordan, overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmouk River valley. Excavations at Umm Qais have uncovered a well-preserved Greco-Roman city with colonnaded streets, a theater, baths, and basilicas reflecting the Hellenistic and Roman urban character of the Decapolis. The city's proximity to the Sea of Galilee shoreline is consistent with the Gospel account's geography. A steep escarpment descends from the city toward the lake, consistent with the detail of the pigs rushing "down the steep bank." Ongoing excavations have yielded inscriptions, statuary, and architectural remains illuminating Gadara's cultural and religious life during the New Testament period.
Verse Appearances (1)
Matt
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →