Gadarenes

The Gadarenes were the inhabitants of the region of Gadara and its surrounding territory in the Transjordan, east of the Sea of Galilee. The country of the Gadarenes is named in the synoptic accounts of Jesus casting a legion of demons into a herd of pigs (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26, 37), though Matthew's parallel account uses the variant reading Gergesenes or Gadarenes. This geographic designation, like the alternatives in the manuscript tradition, points to the same general territory on the eastern shore of the sea — a predominantly Gentile region belonging to the Decapolis.

The identification of the miracle site within the Gadarene country has occupied scholars for centuries. The slope steep enough for a herd to rush into the sea (Mark 5:13) favors a location closer to the shoreline than Gadara proper. Modern archaeology and manuscript analysis have not resolved the question definitively. The Gadarenes' response to the miracle — requesting Jesus to depart from their region — reflects a community more alarmed by the economic loss of the swine than moved by the deliverance of the demoniac, a reaction that underscores the Gentile character and priorities of the territory.