Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.
Mark 7:31
During the first century there was a group of cities east of Israel known as the Decapolis (the Ten Cities), a league of ten Greco-Roman cities in their own Roman district. The region was on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, visible from where Jesus spent most of his time. We visited several of these cities. I’ve already mentioned Beth Shean from our Galilee trip. In Jesus’ day it was called Scythopolis. It was the only city of the Decapolis on the west side the Jordan River. I’ve already mentioned a few other Decapolis cities that we visited: Pella, Gadara, and Amman (Philadelphia in the first century).
Our second day included a visit to the most impressive ruins of a Decapolis at the site of Jerash (1st century Geresa). Jerash has been called the city of a thousand columns. My normal life includes looking at spreadsheet columns more often, but these are more interesting to look at. Many have their capitals beautifully preserved. It’s fun to walk down the colonnaded street or see the ancient temples to Zeus and Artemis. Do you see many columns in my pictures?
