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[German Version] (modern: Umm Qais). Gadara was the municipal center of Hellenism in the Transjordan, the birthplace of several poets and philosophers, a member of the decapolis and the site of the demon exorcism in Matt 8:28. A Macedonian colony in the 4th century bce, Gadara was under Ptolemaic-Seleucid dominion in the Hellenistic era. Liberated from Hasmonean occupation by Pompey (64/63 bce), the city was transferred from Augustus to Herod. After regaining autonomy, it was pro-Roman in the First Jewish Revolt. In the Byzantine era an episcopal see, Gad…

[German Version] (modern Baniyas) is located southwest of Mount Hermon on a tributary of the Jordan; it was the site of a battle between the Ptolemies (Ptolemaic dynasty) and the Seleucids in 200 bce. Originally called Paneas, it was renamed Kaisáreia hē Philíppou (Lat. Caesarea Philippi) after the tetrarch Philip rebuilt it and set up a temple of Augustus in 3 bce. For a time the city was called Neronias in honor of the emperor Nero. Its chief deity was the Greek Pan, who was worshiped alongside Zeus (Olybris, Heliopolitanus),…

[German Version] Pella, one of the cities of the Decapolis, 28 km of the Sea of Galilee (modern Tabaqat Fahil). It is not mentioned in the Bible. Called Pihil in texts as early as the 19th century bce, the city was given the Grecized name Pella when it was refounded after the Macedonian conquest of Palestine. Destroyed by the Hasmoneans (Maccabees), it was laid waste once more during the First Jewish Revolt. According to Eusebius of Caesarea ( Hist. eccl. III 5.3), members of the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem took refuge here, warned by a revelation “before the w…

[German Version] I. Archaeology – II. Early Church – III. Arab Period – IV. Christianity in Damascus I. Archaeology Damascus, modern Dimešq ( aš-Šām), is located 3 km east of where the Baradā river (cf. 2 Kgs 5:12) emerges from the ravine (Rabwāt al-Minšār) between Mount ¶ Hermon) and Mount Qasyūn (Anti-Lebanon). It is the center of the largest Syrian mountain-border oasis – the Ghutah, an area threatened by overdevelopment – and since 1946 has been the capital of the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria). According to legend, Damascus is one of the oldest cities in the world, …