Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

GERASA*, GERASENES

City and district in the Decapolis. Gerasa was a well-known Roman city situated in the hills of the Transjordan about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of the Sea of Galilee and 19 miles (31 kilometers) east of the Jordan River. It was originally established as a Greek city by Alexander the Great around 333 BC. In 85 BC the Jewish monarch Alexander Janneus conquered the city. Gerasa remained in Jewish hands until Pompey brought it under Roman control in 63 BC, at which time it was incorporated into the province of Syria and later included in the Decapolis. The site of Gerasa is identical with the modern Jerash.

Although the city is not named in the NT, Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26-37 mention the “country of the Gerasenes” (rsv) as the place where Jesus healed the demoniac and the swine drowned in the Sea of Galilee. The parallel account in Matthew 8:28 reads the “country of the Gadarenes” (rsv).

The reading of “Gerasenes” in Mark and Luke is found in the better manuscripts of the NT over the later scribal alterations of “Gadarenes” and “Gergesenes.” Gadara was an important city of the Decapolis whose political jurisdiction extended to the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee. It was added perhaps by later copyists to harmonize Mark’s and Luke’s accounts with Matthew’s Gospel. Gergesa was a city along the eastern coastline of the Sea of Galilee and the name was probably inserted in the texts of Mark and Luke to make better geographical sense of Jesus’ miracle. Nonetheless, “the district of the Gerasenes” has the best textual support and should be understood as the intended site of Mark and Luke for Jesus’ exorcism and miracle. To the non-Palestinian Roman and Greek readers of Mark and Luke’s Gospels, the small regional district of Gadara would be unknown; however, the affluent Roman city of Gerasa would be widely known and suitable as a geographical designation for Jesus’ miracle at the Sea of Galilee.