On the north-east side, the remains of the extensive
necropolis of Gadara are still to be seen. Innumerable sepulchral
chambers are excavated in the limestone cliffs, and many of them still
contain sarcophaguses of basalt; while not a few are converted into
dwellings by the inhabitants of the present village of Um Keis. The
distance of Gadara from the south-eastern shore of the Lake of
Tiberias is less than seven miles. The nearest of the other cities of
the Decapolis, to the north, is Hippos, which also lay some seven
miles off, in the south-eastern corner of the shore of the lake. In
accordance with the ancient Hellenic practice, that each city should
be surrounded by a certain amount of territory amenable to its
jurisdiction,[101] and on other grounds, it may be taken for certain
that the intermediate country was divided between Gadara and Hippos;
and that the citizens of Gadara had free access to a port on the lake.
Hence the title of "country of the Gadarenes" applied to the locality
of the porcine catastrophe becomes easily intelligible. The swine may
well be imagined to have been feeding (as they do now in the adjacent
region) on the hillsides, which slope somewhat steeply down to the
lake from the northern boundary wall of the valley of the Hieromices
(_Nahr Yarmuk_), about half-way between the city and the shore, and
doubtless lay well within the territory of the _polis_ of Gadara.
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