Gadara

H6 on the Map.

Gadara (of Decapolis). Umm Qeis (Muqeis). Gadara was a Graeco-oriental city located south of the Yarmuk River with its territory reaching beyond Yarmuk even to the Sea of Galilee. It is identified with the ruins of Umm Qeis. In Hellenistic times it was one of the centers of Greek culture in the Transjordan. When the Ptolemies ruled, the Assyrian-Persian provinces were split up and Gadara became the capital of the biblical district of Gilead, later called Galaaditis. After Antiochus III's over the Ptolemies at Paneas it passed on to the Seleucids and new names were given to the city. The Hasmonean Alexander Jannaeus conquered it and later the Roman General Pompey rebuilt it and made it a member of the Decapolis. It is granted to Herod by Augustus, and after Herod's death it was placed under the authority of the proconsul of Syria.

Matt. 8:28.

The Gadara to the E (H10 on the Map) was at the S end of Decapolis. There was an aqueduct at Gadara which ran for more than 30 miles, with pipes hewn of solid basalt, of a diameter like our drain pipes, and fitting each other with flanges. There was a Roman bridge at Gadara which was the first to span Syrian rivers.

There were features common to most the cities in this area especially the architectural features. There were the usual buildings of a Greek city of the Roman period, the Colonnaded street, arch, form, temple, theatre, bath and mausoleum, in florid Doric and Corinthian.

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