Matthew 4:25Mark 5:20Mark 7:31
The “Decapolis” is mentioned only in Matthew and Mark in the Bible. In Mark 5:20 , Jesus healed a demoniac after which the man “began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him.” Mark 7:31 states that after Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon he went “through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.” Matthew 4:25 adds no more to our knowledge of these cities.
Traditionally the Decapolis is assumed to be a league of cities which preserved the stronghold of Greek thought and life in Palestine and resisted the Semitic influences of the Jews. According to Pliny, however, it was not a very solid political alliance. A recent view is that it was not even a league, but a geographical region. These cities do seem to have much in common; they were centers for the spread of Greco-Roman culture and had no great love for the Jews. They were associated with one another closely enough that in some ways they were considered as a group, if not as a league. See Palestine .
W. Thomas Sawyer
The product of over 6 years of work by hundreds of people, the Holman Bible Dictionary manages to be readable and easy to use, yet take advantage of the finest modern Bible scholarship without heavy technical language. The over 6,600 entries includes extensive cross-referencing of related articles, and quotes from 6 different Bible translations.Wikipedia
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