Bible Dictionaries

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Decapolis

Decapolis (de-kăp'o-lĭs), ten cities. A region noticed three times in the Bible. Matthew 4:25; Mark 5:20; Mark 7:31. It lay near the Sea of Galilee, probably on both sides of the Jordan. The cities were rebuilt by the Romans about b.c. 65; but as other cities grew up, writers are not agreed as to the names of the ten cities. Pliny gives them as follows: Scythopolis, Hippos, Gadara, Pella, Philadelphia, Gerasa, Dion, Canatha, Raphana, Damascus. Six are deserted, and none have many inhabitants except Damascus.