DECAPOLIS, a league of ten cities situated with one excep tion on the eastern side of the upper Jordan and the sea of Tiberias. The names of the ten cities are Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis ( = Beth-Shan, now Beisan, W. of Jordan), Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha. Of these Damascus alone retains its importance. Scythopolis (as repre sented by the village of Beisan) is still inhabited; the ruins of Pella, Gerasa and Kanatha survive. Scythopolis, in command of the communications with the sea and the Greek cities on the coast, was a very important member of the league. The purpose of the league was mutual defence against the marauding Bedouin tribes that surrounded them.
It was soon after Pompey's campaign in 64-63 B.C. that the Decapolis league took shape. The cities comprising it were united by the main roads on which they lay, their respective spheres of influence touching one another. A constant communication was maintained with the Mediterranean ports and with Greece. The cities were subject to the governor of Syria and taxed for im perial purposes.
The best account is in G. A. Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, chap. xxviii.