GADARA  , an

ancient town of the Syrian Decapolis, the capital of Peraea, and the political centre of the small district of Gadaris . It was a Greek city, probably entirely non-Syrian in origin . The earliest recorded event in its history is its capture by Antiochus III. of Syria in 218 B.c.; how long it may have existed before this date is unknown . About twenty years later it was besieged for ten months by Alexander Jannaeus . It was restored by Pompey, and in 3o B.C. was presented by Augustus to Herod the Great; on Herod's death it was reunited to Syria . The coins of the place bear Greek legends, and such inscriptions as have been found on its site are Greek . Its governing and wealthy classes were probably Greek, the common people being Hellenize& and Judaized Aramaeans . The community was Hellenistically organized, and though dependent on Syria and acknowledging the supremacy of Rome it was governed by a democratic senate and managed its own internal affairs . In the Jewish war it surrendered to Vespasian, but in the Byzantine period it again flourished and was the seat of a bishop . It was renowned for its hot sulphur baths; the springs still exist and show the remains of bath-houses . The temperature of the springs is 110° F . This town was the birthplace of Meleager the anthologist .

There is a confusion in the narrative of the healing of the demoniac between the very similar names Gadara,

Gerasa and Gergesa; but the probabilities, both textual and geographical, are in favour of the reading of Mark (Gerasenes, ch. v.1, revised version); and that the miracle has nothing to do with Gadara, but took place at Kersa, on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee . Gadara is now represented by Umm Kais, a group of ruins about 6 m . S.E. of the Sea of Galilee, and 1194 ft. above the sea-level . There are very fine tombs with carved sarcophagi in the neighbourhood . There are the remains of two theatres and (probably) a temple, and many heaps of carved stones, representing ancient buildings of various kinds . The walls are, or were, traceable for a circuit of 2 m., and there are also the remains of a street of columns . The natives are rapidly destroying the ruins by quarrying building material out of them . (R . A . S .