GADARA. - 1. A Greco-Roman city east of the Jordan, identified with the height of Umm Keja 12 km southeast of the Sea of Tiberias on the left bank of the river Jarmuk, the ancient Hieromìna.

Occupied after a 10-month siege by A. Jannaeus (Fl. Josephus, Bell. Iud., I, 4, 2) and made free by Pompey, it was 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 Gadarene coins the first year of the Pompeian era.

Fl. Josephus' report (loc. cit., 3, 1) that the territory of G. extended as far as Tiberias may explain the reading of Mt. 8:28 "region of the Gadarenes." The city was in antiquity rich, populous and marked by Greek culture, as the monumental remains of the walls, theaters, houses and tombs show. To the south, in the lower valley of the Jarmuk, are the baths of G., as renowned in Roman times as in our own; in 1932 the remains of a synagogue with mosaics were discovered there.

2. Metropolis of Perea (Fl. Josephus, op. cit., IV, 4, 14) mentioned in the campaign of A. Jannaeus 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).

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: N. Glucek, The archaeological exploration of el-Hummah on the Yarmouk, in Bull. Am. Schools Orient. Res., 49 (1934), p. 22; F. M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, II, Paris 1928, p. 323.

Donato Baldi

@incollection{ec5_gadara, author = {Baldi, Donato}, title = {Gadara}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1840--1841}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gadara} }

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