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