DECAPOLIS  , a

league of ten cities (Um rbXets) with their surrounding district, situated with one exception on the eastern side of the upper Jordan and the Sea of Tiberias . Being essentially a confederation of cities it is impossible precisely to fix Decapolis as a region with definite boundaries . The names of the original ten cities are given by Pliny; these are as follows: Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis (=Beth-Shan, now Beisan, west of Jordan), Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha . Of these Damascus alone retains its importance . Scythopolis (as represented by the village of Beisan) is still inhabited; the ruins of Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha survive, but the other sites are unknown or disputed . Scythopolis, being in command of the communications with the sea and the Greek cities on the coast, was the most important member of the league . The league subsequently received additions and some of the original ten dropped out . In Ptolemy's enumeration Raphana has no place, and nine, such as Kapitolias, Edrei, Bosra, &c., are added . The purpose of the league was no doubt mutual defence against' the marauding Bedouin tribes that surrounded them . These were hardly if at all checked by the Semitic kinglings to whom the Romans delegated the government of eastern Palestine . It was probably soon after Pompey's campaign in 64-63 B.C. that the Decapolis league took shape . The cities comprising'ft were united by the main roans on which they lay, their respective spheres of influence touching, if not overla,pping, one another .

A

constant communication was maintained with the Mediterranean ports and with Greece, and there was a vigorous municipal life which found expression in literature, in athletic contests, and in a thriving commerce, thus carrying a.truly Hellenic influence into Perea and Galilee . From Josephus we learn that the cities were severally subject to the governor of Syria and taxed for imperial purposes; some of them afterwards came under Herod's jurisdiction, but reserved the substantial rights granted them by Pompey . The best account is in G . A . Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, chap. xxviii . (R . A . S .