GADARA. - 1. Greco-Roman city east of the Jordan, identified with the hill of Umm Keja, 12 km southeast of Lake Tiberias, on the left bank of the Jarmùk River, the ancient Hieromìna.
Occupied after 10 months of siege by A. Iannee (Fl. Giuseppe, Bell. Iud., I, 4, 2) and restored to freedom by Pompey, it formed part of the Decapolis. In the year 30 Augustus ceded it to Herod; after the latter’s death, it regained its independence. At the time of the Jewish revolt it was protected by a Roman detachment (id., op. cit., III, 7, 1); in the time of Hadrian there was a garrison of the X Legio Pretensis. The year 64-63 B.C. marks on Gadarenian coins the first year of the Pompeian era.
The information of Fl. Giuseppe (loc. cit., 3, 1) that the territory of G. extended as far as Tiberias may explain the reading in Mt. 8, 28, “region of the Gadarenes.” In antiquity the city was wealthy, populous, and marked by Greek culture, as is shown by the monumental remains of its walls, theatres, houses, and tombs. To the south, in the lower valley of the Jarmók, are the baths of G., as renowned in Roman times as they are today; in 1932 the remains of a synagogue with mosaics were discovered there.
2. Metropolis of Perea (Fl. Giuseppe, op. cit., IV, 4, 14), mentioned in the campaign of A. Ianno in Transjordan and for the revolt of the Gadarenes, subdued in 68 by Vespasian; today Tell Gádúr, 3 km south of os-Salé. It was an episcopal see, and its bishops signed the acts of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and of the Synod of Jerusalem (536).