Full Answer
What does the Bible say about the Decapolis region?
Autonomy under Rome. The New Testament gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention that the Decapolis region was a location of the ministry of Jesus. According to Matthew 4:23-25 the Decapolis was one of the areas from which Jesus drew his multitude of disciples, attracted by his "healing all kinds of sickness".
What is the meaning of Decapolis?
DECAP'OLIS, a name meaning "ten cities," whose locations are not all certainly known, but their general region was e. and s. of the sea of Tiberias, as far as Damascus on the n. and Beth-shean on the s., including these cities. Strong's Greek G1179: Dekapolis
What are the ten cities of the Decapolis?
The names of the traditional Ten Cities of the Decapolis come from the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in his Natural History. They are: Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan. Scythopolis (Beth-Shean) in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River.
Where did the Apostle Mark go when he came to Decapolis?
Mark 5:20He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled. Mark 7:31Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis. Encyclopedia DECAPOLIS
What was the Decapolis?
The Decapolis formed a solid belt of territory along Galilee and Jordan, deeply permeated with Gr. influence, but cosmopolitan by reason of commerce, history, and geographical position. Cultural life was as vigorous as commercial activity. Gadara produced Philodemus, the Epicurean philosopher, in the middle of the 1st cent. b.c.
What is the only decapolis in Israel?
Israeli Beth-shean, as the ruins of the ancient town are called today, is the only Decapolis site in Israel, and not Jordanian or Syrian territory, so persistent is the shape of history in that ancient land. Scythopolis covered E-W communications between the sea and the Decapolis.
What was the complex of Gr. communities in eastern Pal.?
communities in eastern Pal. was a phenomenon of the Hel. diaspora, that deep penetration of the whole of the eastern Mediterranean by Gr. immigrants that followed the conquests of Alexander the Great. Two of the ten Decapolis towns, Pella and Dion, both Macedonian names, were prob.
Who restored the cities to their citizens?
In the words of Josephus, he “restored the cities to their citizens.”. Josephus, in this connection, mentions Gadara, Pella, Dion, and Hippos; but Philadelphia also dates coinage by Pompey, and must therefore have been a recipient of his beneficence.
Who was the philosopher who was born in Gadara?
Gadara produced Philodemus, the Epicurean philosopher, in the middle of the 1st cent. b.c. The same town was the birthplace of Meleager, the epigrammatist; Menippus, the satirist; and Theodorus, the rhetorician tutor of Tiberius. Gerasa was also renowned for its teachers. Of chief interest to the student of the NT is the impact ...
What does the name Decapolis mean in the Bible?
Decapolis. Dictionary of Bible Names. Decapolis. Bible Meaning: Ten cities, the ten city region. Strong's Concordance #G1179. The Decapolis was a group of ten, possibly more, cities within a region that was primary located east of the Jordan River and southeast of the Sea of Galilee. It is only recorded by name three times in the New Testament.
When did the Decapolis become a Roman province?
It did not become a part of a Roman province until the reign of Emperor Trajan (98 to 117 A.D.). Biblical references to places within the Decapolis region include "the country of the Gadarenes" (Mark 5:1) and "the country of the Gergesenes" (Matthew 8:28). It is one of the few areas Jesus visited where Gentiles ...
What cities did Jesus visit?
Pliny's Natural History (published c. 77 A.D.), however, lists the cities as Gerasa, Scythopolis, Hippos, Gadara, Pella, Philadelphia, Capitolias (Dion), Canatha, ...
What does the name Decapolis mean?
DECAP'OLIS, a name meaning "ten cities," whose locations are not all certainly known, but their general region was e. and s. of the sea of Tiberias, as far as Damascus on the n. and Beth-shean on the s., including these cities. Strong's Greek. G1179: Dekapolis. Decapolis, a region East of the Jordan.
Where is Decapolis in Jordan?
Decapolis, a region East of the Jordan
Where did the multitudes come from in Matthew 4:25?
Matthew 4:25Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
What was the Decapolis region?
Decapolis region and its surroundings in the 1st century. Under Roman rule, the cities of the Decapolis were not included in the territory of the Herodian kingdom, its successor states of the Herodian tetrarchy, or the Roman province of Judea.
What does the coin "Decapolis" mean?
Many coins from Decapolis cities identify their city as "autonomous," "free," "sovereign," or "sacred," terms that imply some sort of self-governing status. The Romans left their cultural stamp on all of the cities.
What was the Roman Empire divided into?
The cities were divided between the new province and the provinces of Syria and Judea. In the later Roman Empire, they were divided between Arabia and Palaestina Secunda, of which Scythopolis served as the provincial capital; while Damascus became part of Phoenice Libanensis. The cities continued to be distinct from their neighbors within their provinces, distinguished for example by their use of the Pompeian calendar era and their continuing Hellenistic identities. However, the Decapolis was no longer a unit of administration.
Where did the names of the cities of the Decapolis come from?
The names of the traditional Ten Cities of the Decapolis come from Pliny's Natural History. They are: Gerasa ( Jerash) in Jordan. Dium later Capitolias also Dion, Aydoun in Arabic, in Jordan. Scythopolis ( Beit She'an) in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River.
Where is the Decapolis region located?
Most of the Decapolis region is located in Jordan, except Damascus (in Syria), and Hippos and Scythopolis (in Israel).
What were the names of the cities in the Seleucid dynasty?
Others were founded later, when the Seleucid dynasty ruled the region. Some of the cities included "Antiochia" or "Seleucia" in their official names ( Antiochia Hippos, for example), which attest to Seleucid origins. The cities were Greek from their founding, modeling themselves on the Greek polis .
What year was the Decapolis?
This was the origin of the Decapolis. For centuries the cities based their calendar era on this conquest: 63 BC was the epochal year of the Pompeian era, used to count the years throughout the Roman and Byzantine periods.
Why is the name Decapolis not a city?
The name Decapolis appears to reflect the idea that its cluster of cities together formed a closed unit, which might as well have existed as if behind its collective wall. The word δεκα ( deka ), in this case, also doesn't denote a quantity between nine and eleven, but rather the whole of one, arbitrarily large collection.
Where is the Decapolis located?
The name Decapolis belonged to a region almost exclusively east of the Jordan, so technically not part of the Roman province of Judea or even of Israel. It consisted of a, what seems, arbitrary cluster of cities, which included Gerasa (possibly connected to the land of the Gerasenes, mentioned in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 ), Gadara (possibly connected to the land of the Gadarenes, mentioned in Matthew 8:28 ), Scythopolis (probably the same as the Biblical Beth-shean, which was the only one west of the Jordan), Philadelphia and possibly Damascus, the capital of Syria.
What is the name of the man in the Gospels?
All three synoptic gospels mention the story of the man named Legion (by Matthew portrayed as two unnamed men), whose exorcism is also a cunning commentary on the goings on of the times ( Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, Luke 8:26-40; see our article on the name Legion for more details). Only Mark adds that the man formerly known as Legion began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him ( Mark 5:20 ). Mark is also the only one who reports that Jesus went from Tyre to Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into Decapolis, where he healed a deaf-mute man ( Mark 7:31 ).
Where did Jesus go when he healed a deaf man?
Mark is also the only one who reports that Jesus went from Tyre to Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into Decapolis, where he healed a deaf-mute man ( Mark 7:31 ).
Who lists Damascus as a name?
Several contemporary ancient historians such as Pliny the Elder, Josephus and some others list up to nineteen different names, but, for instance, Pliny lists Damascus while Josephus doesn't (for more on Josephus, see our article on Dalmanutha ).
What does the cardinal number deka mean?
The cardinal number δεκα ( deka) means ten but also signifies the whole of a collective (ten commandments, ten camels, ten talents). The ordinal δεκατος ( dekatos) means tenth or tithe. The word δεκα ( deka) is also part of all words that describe numbers from eleven to nineteen. For instance, δωδεκα ( dodeka) means twelve.
