Note 2 at Mr 5:1: The city of Gadara was one of ten cities of the Decapolis (see note 1 at Mt 4:25). The historian Josephus described it as a strong and wealthy city inhabited mostly by Greeks. Its location was about five and one-half miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee at an elevation that allowed a full view of the sea.

Gadara was the capital of a district called Gadaritis located east of the Jordan River and extending north to the southeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Because of the size and importance of this city, those who dwelt on the east side of the Sea of Galilee were called Gadarenes.

Matthew referred to "the country of the Gergesenes" (Mt 8:28). Origen, an early Christian historian, was told that an old town named Gergesa existed on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, near a place where the land sloped steeply into the lake. The ruins of a town named Kursi have existed at this site in modern times.

The Revised Version uses the name "Gerasenes" in Mr 5:1; Lu 8:26, and 37. This name was probably derived from "Gerasa," another city in the area. The ruins of Kursi are opposite Magdala and five miles southeast of where the Jordan River enters the Sea of Galilee. Just a short distance south of these ruins is the only place on the eastern coast where steep hills come close enough to the water to meet the conditions of Mt 8:32, Mr 5:13, and Lu 8:33.