GADARA (Paaapci). A city of PerFea, and one of its ancient capitals. It stood on the northern end of the mountains of Gilead, five miles east of the river Jordan, and about six from the Sea of Galilee. It is only mentioned in Scripture in con nection with the miracle performed by our Lord on the demoniacs. The story is told by three of the Evangelists. Matthew, according to the Textus Peceptus, says it occurred in the country of the Gergesenes (rep-yeanv6iv ; viii. 28) ; while Mark (v. r) and Luke (viii. 26) call it the country of the Gadarenes (l'aoapnvO)v). -We shall first endeavour to remove this apparent contradiction. The name of the place must be ascertained before an attempt is made to identify and describe it.
On examining the MS. authorities for the text of Matthew's gospel, we find them strangely divided about this word. Seven Uncials have Pcp-yeanyt2w, the reading of the 7'. R., but none of these is older than the eighth century. One, the Cod. Bez., has PipacrrivCr, ; four have raatunpay ; but these in clude the most ancient and valuable extant, B. and C. ; and the Sinaitic MS., according to Tischen dorf, has PaPapipc14,, manifestly a corruption of the same reading (Nolitia Edit. Cod. Bib. Sinait., p. 15). The weight of MS. evidence is thus decidedly in favour of l'aSaprt7o. The ancient versions are nearly equallybalanced ; the Syriac having Gadara, and the Latin Gerasa. Origen is the first writer who mentions the reading reirveolivatv. He states that the common reading was repaaa ; but that in a few (iv AL-rots) he found PaSapd. He thought, however, that both these cities were too far dis tant from the Sea of Galilee to meet the require ments of the narrative, and consequently he con jectures that Gergesa, which he says lay upon the shore, must be the place referred to (Comment. in 7oh.) Now in a question of this kind conjec ture cannot be admitted. We must implicitly fol low the most ancient and credible testimony, which clearly pronounces in favour of raSapnrCo' v. This reading is adopted by Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles (see their Greek Testaments, in /oc,) In Mark v. r, ancient authorities are nearly equally balanced between the readings Pepaoliro7n, and Paaapqvav. The former is the reading of the Vatican and Sinaitic MSS., and of the Latin ver sions ; while the latter is that of the Alexandrine and seven other Uncials, and of the Syriac versions (Tregelles' Account of the Plinted Text, p. 192 ; Tisch., Notitia, ut sup.) The same is the case in reference to Luke viii. 26 ; and all the best critics adopt there also the readin.g reparrnpLip, as that of the highest authority (See Alford's G reek Test., vol. ; Prolegomena, p. 95, 4.th ed. ; Kuincel, Com• mentar. in loc.) Whatever may be the true reading in these two passages, there can be no doubt that the city (71-6Xts) out of which Luke says the demoniac came was Gadara. Matthew and Mark represent him as coming out of the tombs Cum.Lettov), and Gadara has a farge number of rock-hewn tombs. Origen indeed affirms that the demoniacs were natives of Gergesa, which was situated on the shore of the lalce ; but we do not hear elsewhere of any such city, for though Josephus mentions the Gergashites (Antiq. i. 6. 2), yet it appears that their towns had
been all destroyed at the time of the conquest of Palestine by the Israelites (Dent. vii. 1; Josh. xxiv. ; see, however, GERGESA).
Gadara was a large and splendid city, for a time the capital of Perma (Joseph. Bell. 3ua'. iv. 7. 3). Eusebius describes it as situated opposite to Scythopolis and Tiberias, on a mountain, at whose base, three miles distant, are warm springs (Ono mast. s. v. Aetham and Gadara). Pliny says it was on the banks of the Hieromax (H. N. v.18); and Josephus adds that it was sixty stadia distant from Tiberias ( Vit. 65). With such clear data, we can have no difficulty in identifying it ivith the modem ruins of Um Keis.
Gadara does not appear to have been a city of high antiquity. It is not mentioned either in the O. T, or Apocrypha ; and Josephus calls it a Grecian city (rats 'Bianpls). Another ancient writer referred to by Reland (Pal. tot3), terms it rciaapa ' Aoatipca. These statements, when con nected with the fact that it was one of the chief cities of the Decapolis, seem to indicate that Gadara was founded, and mainly inhabited by foreign and probably Grecian colonists. The first historical notice we find of it is in a quotation by Josephus from Polybius, to the effect that when Antiochus the Great conquered Scopus, the general of Ptolemy (B.c. i9S). he obtained pos session of Gadara (Antiv. xii. 3. 3). At a long sub sequent period the city fell into the hands of the Jews, and was destroyed by them, but rebuilt by Ptolemy in B.C. 63 (Joseph. Bell. yud. i. 7. 7). When Gabinius was appointed pro-consul, he changed the govemment of Judma by dividing the country into five districts, in each of which he created a superior council. Gadara was capital of one of them (i. 8. 5). Augustus gave the city to Herod the Great; but after Herod's death, it was sepamted from the government of Archelaus, and annexed to the province of Syria (Antiq. xvii. 11. 4). It was captured and sacked by the Jews, in revenge for the massacre of their brethren at Cmsarea (Bell. Yied ii. IS. 1). At the commence ment of our era it contained a small Jewish com. munity x8. 6), who increased so much in wealth and power, that they attempted to defend the town against Vespasian ; but he captured it, and reduced it and the surrounding villages to ashes (iii. 7. i). It was captured a second time by him (iv. 7. 3). At a later period it rose to considerable importance, and became one of the most beautiful towns of Syria. It was for several centuries the seat of a bishopric (Geogr. Sac. S. Paul. p. 307 ; Reland Pa/. 776). It fell to ruins soon after the Mohammedan conquest, and has now been deserted for centuries, with the excep tion of a few families of shepherds, who occasion ally find a home in its rock-hewn tombs.